GULICK.  HYGIENE  SERIES 


THE  BODY  AM) 

¥  HP  C*     TVT^T 

I  I  \  lir  r 

11  vJ  JL/JLJL 


BY  FRANCES  GULICK  JEWETT  j 


nc  11  CD  A I 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

6 


THE    GULICK    HYGIENE    SERIES 

EDITED  BY 
LUTHER  HALSEY  GULICK 


THE  BODY 
AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


BY 

FRANCES   GULICK  JEWETT 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •   NEW  YORK  .  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY  LUTHER   H.  GULICK 

ENTERED  AT  STATIONERS'  HALL 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

910.2 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

G 


GENERAL 

c 


THE 
GULICK  HYGIENE  SERIES 

FIVE-BOOK  SERIES 
Book      I.     Good  Health.     40  cents 
Book    II.     Emergencies.     40  cents 
Book    III.     Town  and  City.     50  cents 
Book  IV.     The  Body  at  Work.     50  cents 
Book   V.     Control  of  Body  and  Mind.     50  cents 

TWO^BOOK  SERIES 
Good  Health.     40  cents 
The  Body  and  its  Defenses.     65  cents 


GINN  AND  COMPANY-  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER           ,  PAGE 

I.  BONE  AND  MUSCLE  RECORDS      .  • i 

II.  DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 7 

III.  MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 14 

IV.  THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF 20 

V.  STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES 30 

VI.  BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET 39 

VII.  ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 45 

VIII.  THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED 52 

IX.  THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  is  AT  WORK 59 

X.  DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN   ...  68 

XI.  To  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND  BACK 76 

XII.  BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES 84 

XIII.  EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 89 

XIV.  ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION 96 

XV.  As  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS 104 

XVI.  WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 109 

XVII.  THE  FOE  OF  MAN  —  TUBERCLE  BACILLUS 117 

XVIII.    WAR    AGAINST    THE    ENEMY 127 

XIX.  ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE.     .     .     .  136 

XX.  EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING 144 

XXI.  CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY 154 

XXII.  PURE  WATER  AND  CLEAN  MILK 162 

XXIII.  FROM    FOOD    TO    BLOOD,    OR    PERISTALTIC    ACTION    AND 

THE  VILLI                                             i72 


206528 


iv  THE   BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIV.  GLAND  LABORATORIES  FOR  THE  AID  OF  APPETITE  AND 

GENERAL  HEALTH .180 

XXV.  GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL     .     .  188 
XXVI.  HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING,  OR  ABOVE  AND  BELOW  THE 

DIAPHRAGM 195 

XXVII.  FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS     ....  205 
XXVIII.  THAT   WHICH  DESTROYS,  AND   HOW  MEN  SAVE  THEM- 
SELVES   211 

XXIX.  PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN 218 

XXX.  WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL 224 

XXXI.  LIVING  TISSUE  THREATENED  BY  MICROBES 233 

XXXII.  SPREAD  OF  EPIDEMICS 241 

XXXIII.  STUDENTS,  RAILROAD  MEN,  AND  ALCOHOL      ....  247 

XXXIV.  NERVES  THAT  UNITE  MUSCLE  AND  BRAIN 254 

XXXV.  THE  CENTER  OF  CONTROL  —  THE  BRAIN 260 

XXXVI.  NERVE  MACHINERY  . 266 

XXXVII.  TRAIN  THE  CEREBELLUM 274 

XXXVIII.  TRAIN  THE  NERVE  CELLS  OF  THE  SENSES 280 

XXXIX.  HELP    THROUGH     HAPPINESS;    OR,    THE    SYMPATHETIC 

GANGLIA 287 

XL.  PHAGOCYTE   AND   ALCOHOL,   OR    FRIEND  AND   FOE  OF 

THE  NERVE  CELL 293 

XLI.    PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL  (continued}  . 298 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  LIST 305 

QUESTIONS 307 

GLOSSARY 331 

INDEX .' 335 


INTRODUCTION 

In  the  following  pages  emphasis  is  laid  on  function 
rather  than  on  structure,  on  bodily  health  rather  than  on 
the  mere  mechanical  operation  of  bone,  muscle,  gland, 
and  tissue.  So  much  of  structure  is,  however,  included 
as  is  necessary  to  show  that  we  are  personally  respon- 
sible for  the  kind  of  service  which  we  receive  from  the 
organs  of  the  body ;  and  that  we  are  equally  responsible 
for  the  habits  of  bone  and  muscle  which  determine  the 
physical  representation  of  ourselves  to  others. 

Attention  is  drawn  to  right  and  wrong  habits  of 
sitting,  of  standing,  and  of  walking;  to  the  relation  of 
the  school  desk  to  spinal  curvature ;  to  laws  of  growth, 
through  the  knowledge  of  which  correct  habits  of  pos- 
ture may  be  secured.;  to  the  value  of  physical  exercise 
as  an  aid  to  general  health ;  to  the  development  of  mus- 
cular vigor  and  to  the  renewal  of  tissue  through  food 
and  exercise. 

By  natural  transition  the  work  of  the  muscles  leads  to 
a  study  of  the  source  of  their  energy,  —  the  blood.  Sim- 
ple tests,  easily  applied,  acquaint  the  reader  with  the 
cause  of  rapid  and  slow  heart  beat,  with  methods  of 
training  the  heart  to  increased  power,  with  reasons 


vi  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

why  an  untrained  heart  should  not  be  overtaxed,  with 
the  work  of  the  lymphatics  and  the  nature  of  the  ex- 
changes made  between  lymph  and  plasma.  The  insidi- 
ous effects  of  alcohol  on  the  heart  and  on  the  entire 
circulatory  system  are  emphasized. 

Certain  conditions  of  breathlessness  are  discussed, 
and  reasons  are  given  for  the  statement  that  a  man 
runs  as  much  with  his  heart  and  with  his  lungs  as 
with  his  legs.  In  natural  sequence,  this  explanation 
involves  not  merely  the  structure  and  the  function  of 
the  lungs,  but  also  a  study  of  the  exchange  of  gases 
both  in  the  tissues  and  in  the  air  sacs. 

The  notable  experiments  of  Professor  Chittenden 
with  United  States  soldiers  in  New  Haven,  and  of 
Dr.  Cannon  with  cats  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School, 
necessarily  add  a  touch  of  picturesque  reality  to  the 
otherwise  prosaic  subject  of  digestion.  Through  this 
introduction  to  the  subject  prominence  is  given  to  the 
change  of  food  from  solid  to  liquid  form,  and  to  its 
absorption  by  the  villi ;  also  to  the  food  requirements 
of  the  body  under  differing  conditions  of  age  and  ac- 
tivity; to  the  value  of  bulk  in  the  food  supply;  to  the 
functions  of  the  liver  and  of  the  kidneys,  and  to  the  in- 
fluence of  alcohol  in  undermining  their  power  for  work ; 
to  the  relation  of  sweat  glands  to  bodily  heat,  and  to  the 
interdependence  of  work,  heat,  and  fuel  in  the  operations 
of  the  body. 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

In  close  connection  with  the  physiology  of  the  text, 
several  chapters  discuss  communicable  disease  and  its 
prevention.  They  study  tuberculosis,  its  cause,  how  to 
avoid  it,  and  how  to  cure  it ;  also  typhoid  fever  as  related 
to  pure  water  and  clean  milk ;  dangers  from  the  common 
drinking  cup  and  the  common  towel,  from  the  fly,  the 
mosquito,  and  unsanitary  surroundings;  also  the  cause 
of  specific  epidemics  and  ways  of  escape  from  them 
through  vaccination,  antitoxin,  cleanliness,  and  general 
physical  vigor. 

The  closing  chapters  of  the  book  are  devoted  to  the 
nervous  system,  to  its  structure  and  its  function,  to 
methods  of  governing  it  through  mental  processes,  and 
to  the  training  of  the  senses. 

These  and  other  related  topics  have  been  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  students  of  this  volume  with  the  hope 
of  imparting  such  enthusiasm  for  personal  health,  and 
such  clear  notions  of  how  to  secure  it,  that  the  bodies 
of  growing  children  may  be  strengthened  as  well  as 
straightened,  that  lives  may  thereby  be  lengthened,  and 
that  through  increased  physical  well-being  the  sum  of 
human  happiness  may  itself  be  increased. 

Not  merely  is  it  the  purpose  of  this  series  to  teach 
scientific  facts,  but  also,  and  especially,  so  to  arrange 
and  present  these  facts  that  from  page  to  page  they  shall 
hold  the  reader's  close  attention  and  inspire  personal 
loyalty  to  the  laws  of  health.  To  further  this  purpose 


viii  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

side  headings  have  intentionally  been  omitted,  so  that 
each  chapter  may  make  its  first  appeal  to  the  reader 
as  a  unified  whole  rather  than  as  a  series  of  disjointed 
fragments.  While  the  disadvantages  of  side  headings  in 
interrupting  the  continuity  of  thought  have  been  avoided, 
air  their  advantages  are  secured  through  the  questions  at 
the  end  of  the  volume,  which,  in  a  better  form,  answer 
the  same  purpose. 

In  so  far  as  possible,  the  instruction  of  this  text-book  is 
everywhere  reenforced  by  illustrations.  Special  mention 
should  be  made  of  indebtedness  to  the  American  Journal 
of  Physiology  for  illustrations  used  by  Dr.  Cannon  in  his 
article  on  "  The  Movements  of  the  Stomach  studied  by 
Means  of  the  Rontgen  Rays"  (1898),  and  to  Professor 
Chittenden  for  photographs  of  the  soldiers  with  whom 
he  carried  on  his  food  experiments. 

Other  valuable  illustrations  have  been  reproduced 
from  Practical  Hygiene  by  Alice  Ravenhill,  from  T/ie 
Human  Mechanism  by  Theodore  Hough  and  W.  T. 
Sedgwick,  from  Alcohol  and  the  Human  Body  by  Sir 
Victor  Horsley  and  Mary  D.  Sturge,  and  from  Unser 
Korper  by  F.  A.  Schmidt.  To  each  of  these  and  to 
many  other  important  works  this  little  book  is  indebted 
not  merely  for  illustrations  but  also  for  valuable  facts 
which  have  been  used  in  the  preparation  of  its  subject- 
matter, 

F.  G.  J. 


OF  THE 

(  UNIVERSITY  } 

ILIFORI 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

CHAPTER  I 

BONE  AND   MUSCLE  RECORDS 

Many  cases  are  on  record  where  a  man  has  tried  to 
hide  his  face  when  he  thought  his  photograph  was  to 
be  taken.  He  has  seemed  to  understand  that  the  photo- 
graph might  betray  him  some  day  and  lead  to  his  being 
arrested  again. 

But  some  of  our  largest  cities  have  adopted  a  new 
and  surer  way  of  keeping  a  reminder  of  their  captured 
men.  They  measure  each  man  carefully  in  different  di- 
rections, —  height  in  standing  and  in  sitting,  distance 
from  the  outstretched  finger  tip  of  one  hand  to  the  out- 
stretched finger  tip  of  the  other,  length  and  width  of 
head  and  face  and  right  ear,  length  of  left  foot,  of  left 
middle  finger,  and  of  left  forearm.  Scars  are  noticed  and 
recorded ;  also  the  color  of  the  hair  and  eyes,  the  shape 
of  the  nose,  the  number  of  teeth,  etc. 

In  addition,  the  photograph  is  taken.  And,  queer 
though  it  may  seem,  the  photograph  is  less  important 
than  the  measurements  in  identifying  a  man  if  he  is 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


ever  arrested  again  and  brought  to  the  police  station. 

The    reason    is    that    our   bone    measurements    change 

little    after    we    are    twenty-two    years    old.     Ever  after 

that  the  size  of  face  and  head, 
the  length  of  arms,  of  fingers, 
and  of  legs  are  all  as  they  will 
continue  to  be  until  we  die. 

This,  then,  is  a  sure  and 
sensible  way  of  keeping  the 
record  of  a  man.  When  a 
criminal  arrives  at  the  police 
court,  no  matter  how  violently 
he  declares  that  he  has  never 
been  there  before  and  that 
this  is  his  first  offense,  the 
officers  measure  him  at  once 
and  also  search  their  written 
records.  If  they  find  there  any 
set  of  measurements  which  is 
a  duplicate  of  those  just  taken, 
all  the  man's  denials  are  in 
vain.  Those  officers  know  that 
never  yet  have  two  people 

been  found  who  had  precisely  the  same  dimensions  for 

all  the  bones  which  were  measured. 

It  takes  but  ten  minutes  for  the  officers  to  get  their 

record  of  a  man  —  photograph  and  all.    But  it  took  the 


TAKING  THE  LENGTH  AND  THE 
WIDTH  OF  HIS  HEAD 

A  caliper  compass  is  used 


BONE  AND  MUSCLE  RECORDS 


man  himself  twenty-two  years  of  life  to  make  that  body 
which  is  now  his  physical  record  of  himself. 

As  a  rule  the  body  of  a  baby  is  very  perfect ;  but  even 
in  its  cradle  and  before  it  can 
walk  a  step  or  speak  a  word  it 
begins  to  receive  daily  training  of 
muscles  and  bones,  of  eyes  and 
hands  and  brain.  During  these 
early  months  also  older  persons 
feel  great  responsibility  for  the 
child. 

Notice  any  nurse  or  careful 
mother  with  the  baby  in  her 
arms.  See  her  hold  a  firm  hand 
against  the  back  of  the  head  as 
she  supports  the  backbone  and 
holds  the  child  up  for  a  look  at 
the  world.  She  knows,  as  the  doc- 
tor does,  that  for  months  there  is 
more  cartilage  than  bone  in  the 

supports  of  that  small  body,  and      SEATED  T0  BE  MEASURED 
that,  while  bones  are  in  this  con-  With  his  back  against  the  up_ 
dition,  they  cannot  be  trusted  to     risht  scale  they  measure  the 

J  height  cf  his  trunk 

do  independent  work. 

Certain  Indians  have  known  this  for  centuries.  A 
famous  tribe  that  admired  flat-headed  men  used  to  se- 
cure these  heads  for  their  boys  by  a  clever  contrivance. 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


They  simply  fastened  a  board  by  a  hinge  to  the  head  of 
the  cradle  and  allowed  it  to  press  down  upon  the  fore- 
head of  the  baby  whenever  he  was  strapped  in  place.  As 
months  passed  the  small  skull  not  only  continued  to  grow 

but  also  set  itself  hard  and 
firm  in  the  desired  shape. 
And  once  firmly  set  there 
was  never  any  hope  that 
the  grown  Indian  could  re- 
store his  head  to  the  perfect 
shape  which  it  had  when 
he  was  born. 

Thus  some  of  our  bones 
and  muscles  are  trained  by 
other  people  before  we  are 
old  enough  to  make  deci- 
sions for  ourselves.  Yet,  whoever  is  responsible  for  results, 
two  laws  of  bone  growth  should  never  be  forgotten : 

1.  Many  bones  can  be  compelled  to  take  a  bend 
in  this  direction  or  that  while  the  child  is  growing. 

2.  Almost  no  bone  can  be  forced  to  make  a  new 
bend  after  it  is  twenty  years  old. 

But  there  is  other  training  which  is  more  complex  and 
for  which  we  ourselves  are  responsible. 

On  a  certain  day  two  boys  entered  the  same  shop 
and  asked  for  work.  The  first  boy  was  refused,  the 
second  was  accepted,  and  the  explanation  lay  with  the 


THE  MIDDLE  FINGER  is  MEASURED 
BY  A  CALIPER  COMPASS 


BONE  AND  MUSCLE  RECORDS 


bones  and  the  muscles,  which  had  made  different  records 
for  the  two  bodies  to  which  they  belonged.  The  first  boy 
walked  with  a  shuffle  and  had  a  slouching  body.  Before 
he  had  spoken  a  word  the  business  man  who  met  him 
was  unfavorably  impressed 
and  ready  to  reject  him. 

The  second  boy  walked  as 
if  he  respected  his  body  thor- 
oughly. His  head  was  erect, 
his  shoulders  well  squared, 
and  each  muscle  gave  the  im- 
pression that  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  doing  things  with 
energy.  This  boy  was  ac- 
cepted as  promptly  as  the 
first  wras  refused. 

Imagine  a  man  who  needs 
the  help  of  other  men  in  carry- 
ing on  some  undertaking. 
Then  try  to  picture  the  sort 
of  body  that  will  serve  him 
best.  Think  how  his  success 
or  his  failure  will  be  influenced  by  bone  and  muscle,  by 
the  way  he  stands  and  walks,  by  the  way  he  uses  his  back 
and  arms  and  legs  and  feet. 

Let  two  women  enter  a  store  or  a  schoolroom,  a  thea- 
ter or  a  church.     Which  will   be   served   most  quickly, 


CHINOOK  BABY  IN  HIS  CRADLE 

The  weight  on  his  forehead  will 

help  turn  him  into  a  flat-headed 

Indian 


6  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

she  who  shuffles  as  she  walks,  has  crooked  shoulders 
and  a  head  thrust  forward,  or  the  woman  who  steps  for- 
ward gracefully,  who  walks  as  if  her  body  were  her  best 
possession,  as  if  it  were  her  true  representative  ?  Surely 
the  second  woman  is  queen  wherever  she  goes.  With- 
out question,  at  every  stage  of  growth  the  body  pro- 
claims the  story  of  what  has  happened  to  it  and  of  all 
that  it  has  done  with  itself  since  it  began  to  live. 

The  point  of  this  chapter,  then,  is  not  that  police 
measurements  of  size  and  shape  make  very  much  dif- 
ference to  us,  but  that  it  is  more  or  less  within  our  own 
power,  while  we  are  growing,  to  make  the  records  which 
are  to  represent  us  the  rest  of  our  lives. 

If  a  man  by  his  own  acts  or  his  own  carelessness 
must  live  miserably  in  a  shanty  when  he  might  have 
lived  gloriously  in  a  palace,  we  are  apt  to  blame  him 
more  than  we  pity  him. 


CHAPTER   II 


DANGER   FROM    THE   SCHOOL  DESK 

For  the  sake  of  making  discoveries  about  yourself 
stand  before  a  mirror  and  study  the 
outline  of  your  back,  your  chest,  your 
shoulders,  and  your  legs.  Try  to  stand 
precisely  as  you  do  every  day  at  home 
and  at  school,  so  that  you  may  get 
a  correct  notion  of  the  records  your 
bones  and  muscles  have  made  for  you 
thus  far  in  life. 

Let  your  eyes  be  keenly  critical.  Are 
you  standing  squarely  on  both  feet? 
Are  your  knees  bent  or  straight?  Is 
your  back  erect  enough  to  hold  your 
head  up  where  it  belongs,  or  does 
your  head  droop  forward  so  that  your 
chin  sticks  out  too  far  in  front  ?  Are 
your  shoulders  on  a  level  with  each 
other,  or  is  one  higher  than  the  other? 
Is  your  chest  rounded  out  like  that  of 
a  soldier,  or  is  it  flat  and  curved  in  like  a  scoop  be- 
tween the  shoulders  ?  Rub  your  hand  across  your  back  to 

7 


I 


1 


HE   STANDS    CORRECTLY 

(Copied  from  Practical 

Hygiene,  by  Alice 

Ravenhill) 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


see  whether  or  not  a  corner  of  a  shoulder  blade  reaches 
out  like  a  young  wing  starting  from  the  wrong  place. 

If  you  can  give  creditable  answers  to  these  questions, 
your  future  course  is  easy.  Simply  keep  on  growing  as 
you  have  begun,  and  when  your  bones 
are  hard  you  will  have  the  shape  you 
wish.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  are 
not  perfectly  satisfied  with  what  you 
find,  rectify  each  item  of  your  posture 
separately,  while  you  still  look  at  your- 
self in  the  mirror. 

Stand  as  nearly  as  you  can  as  fol- 
lows: both  feet  on  the  floor,  each 
bearing  its  own  share  of  weight ;  both 
knees  stiff;  both  shoulders  square  and 
on  a  level  with  each  other.  Draw  in 
your  chin  until  the  back  of  your  neck 
would  touch  a  stand-up  collar  if  you 
had  one  on.  Inhale  a  breath  so  full 
and  deep  that  your  chest  looks  like 
that  of  a  drum  major  ready  for  his 
regimentals.  Now  your  back  has  its 
correct  shape  for  standing.  It  should 
be  slightly  curved  in  its  stretch  from  neck  downwards. 

Later  in  the  day  test  yourself  again.  You  are  now 
seated.  Perhaps  you  are  in  the  schoolroom.  If  you 
have  time  for  it,  take  different  positions  and  note  the 


HE  LESSENS  HIS  LUNG 
CAPACITY 

(Copied  from  Practical 

Hygiene,  by  Alice 

Ravenhill) 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 


feelings  in  connection  with  each.  First,  sit  with  feet 
squarely  on  the  floor,  back  straight,  head  erect,  and 
chest  raised.  Are  you  comfortable?  Can  you  draw  a 
full,  deep  breath?  Test  this  thoroughly. 

Now  slip  down  in  your  seat,  curve  your  head  for- 
ward, let  your  back  be  bent, 
let  your  chest  fall  in,  and 
once  more  try  to  take  a  full, 
deep  breath.  Notice  that 
here  in  the  schoolroom, 
where  your  brain  needs  ox- 
ygen for  its  work,  you  have 
reduced  your  supply  by  the 
way  in  which  you  have 
doubled  up  your  lungs. 

For  the  sake  of  variety 
take  another  position.  Sit 
with  one  elbow  on  the  desk, 
or  with  one  foot  drawn  up 
under  you,  or  with  some 
bend  at  the  waist  line  that 
will  give  a  twist  to  the  spine 
near  the  hip.  The  objec- 
tion to  taking  any  one  of  these  as  the  usual  position  is 
that  gradually  the  relation  of  the  bones  to  each  other 
will  be  so  altered  as  to  give  the  body  an  undesirable 
shape.  In  no  wise  does  it  harm  any  of  us  to  twist  this 


HE  CURVES  HIS  BACK  AND  CROWDS 
HIS  LUNGS 

(Copied  from  Practical  Hygiene, 
by  Alice  Ravenhill) 


IO 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


way  and  that,  to  bend  as  far  as  we  can  in  one  direction 
or  another.  Indeed,  all  such  exercise  is  most  whole- 
some, provided  no  one  position  is  taken  often  enough, 
or  held  long  enough,  to  become  a  habit. 

Sidewise  twists  which 
have  become  permanent  are 
receiving  much  attention 
from  doctors  and  school  ex- 
aminers to-day.  These  men 
claim  that  although  the 
large  majority  of  the  curves 
are  very  slight,  and  although 
most  of  them  will,  in  all 
probability,  never  become 
serious,  still  it  is  not  safe  to 
allow  a  curve  either  to  form 
or  to  increase  after  it  is 
formed,  because  we  can- 
not tell  what  the  outcome 
may  be. 

Dr.  F.  A.  Schmidt,  a  scien- 
tific writer  in  Germany,  says 
that  Dr.  W.  Mayer  examined  the  backs  of  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six  girls  and  found  that  one  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  of  the  number  had  what  is  called  lateral  cur- 
vature of  the  spine.  He  found  that  girls  between  seven 
and  thirteen  years  of  age  had  much  more  trouble  than 


CURVED  BACK  AND  HOLLOW  CHEST 

(Copied  from  Practical  Hygiene, 
by  Alice  Ravenhill) 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 


1 1 


those  who  were  under  seven,  and  he  concluded  that  the 
habits  of  sitting  formed  at  the  school  desk  explained  the 
difference,  because  the  older  children  had  spent  more 
hours,  days,  and  years  in  the  schoolroom  than  those 
who  were  younger. 

Another  German  in- 
vestigator found  that 
in  a  certain  group  of 
children  eighteen  per 
cent  of  the  boys  and 
forty-one  per  cent  of 
the  girls  had  these 
same  curved  spines. 
This  looks  as  if  the 
girls  of  that  group  had 
been  more  careless  than 
the  boys  in  the  way  they 
sat  at  their  desks.  Or 
it  may  be  that  the  boys  HE  TWISTS  HIS  BACK 

had     Saved     themselves       If  he  takes  the  same  position  day  after  day, 

by   taking  more   exer-     some  of  the  vertebne  win  finally  become 


cise  out  of  the  school- 


room. 


wedge-shaped.     Habits  of  the   school   desk 
may  thus  change  his  shape  for  life 

(After  Schmidt) 


Follow  for  yourself  the  work  of  muscle  and  bone,  and 
understand  what  happens  when  a  child  gets  into  the 
habit  of  sitting  at  his  desk  with  elbow  up  on  one  side, 
shoulder  lifted,  and  body  half  screwed  round.  Notice  that 


12 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


if  you  tip  up  one  hip  the  spine  curves  sidewise  as  a  bal- 
ance. If  you  raise  one  shoulder  it  pulls  the  spine  accord- 
ingly. Evidently  each  separate  movement  of  the  muscles 
of  the  back  brings  its  result  in  the  curves  of  the  spine, 

and  the  same  curves,  repeated  day 
after  day  at  the  same  desk,  hold 
the  bones  and  the  cartilage  which 
lies  between  them  in  wrong  po- 
sitions, until  they  are  as  truly 
pressed  into  a  new  shape  as  if 
the  change  were  planned  for. 

So  far  as  health  is  concerned, 
the  main  objection  to  these  lateral 
curves  is  that  if  they  are  allowed 
to  go  on  and  become  serious,  they 
will  interfere  with  the  successful 
work  of  the  large  organs  of  the 
body.  Then,  too,  when  a  curve 
becomes  permanent  —  although  it 
may  be  small  —  the  nerves  them- 
selves are  often  affected  by  it,  and 
the  body  suffers  at  the  point  which  is  supplied  by  these 
nerves.  A  person  enduring  this  pain  may  not  know  its 
cause,  but  his  ignorance  will  not  save  him  from  suffering. 
But  prevention  is  best  of  all.  Children  may  save  them- 
selves by  being  careful  to  balance  the  exercises  which 
they  allow  the  muscles  of  their  backs  to  take.  All  that  is 


CURVED  BY  THE  WAV  HE 
is  HELD 

If  his  nurse  will  carry  him  as 

often  on  one  arm  as  on  the 

other,  no  harm  will  be  done 

to  the  vertebrae 


DANGER  FROM  THE  SCHOOL  DESK 


needed  is  a  little  knowledge  and  a  firm  purpose.  Who- 
ever allows  himself  to  be  shaped  by  undesirable  habits  of 
muscle  and  bone  will  have  cause  for  keen  regret  in  later 
years.  But  he  who,  in  his  youth, 
controls  his  habits  and  shapes  his 
body  with  care,  will  never  regret 
it.  Four  rules  will  help : 

1.  Do  not  sit  day  after  day 
in  the  same  twisted  position. 
When  you  have  been  seated 
in  one  way  for  a  while,  then 
change  and  sit  in  some  other 
way. 

2.  Do    not    carry  a    heavy 
weight  of  books  on  the  same 
arm    back    and    forth    from 
school    every  day.     Carry  as 
few    books     as     possible    on 
either  arm,  and  let  each  arm 
do  its  share  of  the  work. 

3.  Do    not    carry    a    baby 
brother  or  sister  on  the  same 

hip  every  day.    The  weight  just  there  will  tend  to 
give  a  wrong  twist  both  to  your  back  and  to  his. 

4.  If  you  must  stand  for  hours  at  a  stretch,  learn 
to  rest  one  leg  by  using  the  other.    Don't  let  one 
side  sag  down  from  habit.    Change  sides. 


II. 


NOTICE  HIS  SHOULDERS 

If   this    position   becomes    a 

habit,    the    boy    will    have   a 

crooked  body  when  he  is 

a  man 


CHAPTER  III 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 

The  coal  heaver  round  the  corner  has  a  superb  set  of 
muscles  over  the  working  part  of  his  back.  They  are  so 
well  developed  that,  as  he  stands  bent  over  his  work,  it 

is  evident  that  these  muscles 
give  him  a  back  of  tremen- 
dous strength.  By  their  help 
he  shovels  coal  for  hours  at  a 
time  through  the  days  and  the 
weeks  of  the  year.  Moreover, 
when  he  has  finished  his  day's 
work  he  does  not  seem  over- 
tired. He  is  still  ready  for  his 
joke  and  his  laugh  with  his 
children  at  home.  He  even 
jokes  at  the  expense  of  his 
own  back,  for  although  it  is 
so  well  developed  and  so  tire- 
less, still  the  man  himself  frankly  acknowledges  that  it 
is  sadly  bent,  and  that  by  no  effort  on  his  part  can  he 
stand  straight  or  walk  as  would  please  him  best.  He 

says  that  that  is  the  price  he  has  had  to  pay  for  the 

14 


BENT  BY  HIS  WORK 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 


kind  of  work  he  has  chosen  as  a  life  occupation.  More 
people  have  round  shoulders  developed  in  some  such 
way  than  are  troubled  with  any  kind  of  lateral  curvature 
of  the  spine. 

A  bicycle  rider  whom  I  know 
has  a  back  quite  as  bent,  although 
from  a  different  cause.  It  is  mus- 
cular, strong  and  efficient,  but  it 
never  looks  well  except  when  he 
is  working  his  legs  fast  on  his 
wheel.  It  is  bent  from  the  posi- 
tion it  has  been  allowed  to  take, 
rather  than  from  the  work  it  has 
done  in  that  position. 

Something  must  be  wrong,  how- 
ever, and  we  wonder  what  it  is. 
Here  are  these  men  and  multi- 
tudes of  others  whose  backs  are 
splendidly  developed,  but  who  are 
so  bent  as  to  look  almost  deformed. 
For  years  no  one  could  entirely 
explain  the  cause  of  the  combi- 
nation— the  strong  but  bent  back. 

At  last,  however,  close  observation  and  logical  reasoning 
have  made  the  case  clear.  I  give  the  explanation  in  the 
fewest  words  possible.  The  value  of  this  explanation  will 
be  measured  for  us  by  the  use  we  make  of  the  law: 


BENT  BY  BICYCLING 


1 6  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Muscles  stay  in  the  position  in  which  they  do  their 
heaviest  work. 

A  man  of  my  acquaintance  who  travels  a  good  deal, 
says  that  when,  for  a  few  weeks,  he  carries  his  suit  case 
persistently  with  the  same  hand,  that  shoulder  becomes 
an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  lower  than  the  other, 
while,  at  the  same  time  it  becomes  stronger.  This  shows 
how  a  muscle  can  be  lengthened  even  while  it  is  being 
strengthened. 

Stretch  a  muscle  out  and  work  it  hard,  as  a  coal 
heaver  does  when  he  curves  his  back  over  for  the  shov- 
eling and  the  lifting  of  the  coal,  and  those  muscles,  being 
obliged  to  work  hard,  even  while  they  are  stretched,  will 
gain  their  strength  in  that  position  and  will  stay  elongated 
even  when  they  are  not  at  work.  Let  their  size  and  their 
strength  increase  while  they  are  stretched  and  you  have 
given  them  their  permanent  shape. 

Two  oarsmen  illustrate  this  law  in  opposite  ways. 
One  does  all  his  hardest  rowing  with  a  straight  back,  the 
other  with  a  back  that  is  curved.  Their  work  continues 
day  after  day  until  each  back  is  as  strong  and  as  muscu- 
lar as  the  other.  But  see  what  the  results  are.  One  man 
walks  as  if  he  had  spent  his  boyhood  curved  over  a 
school  desk  without  a  thought  about  what  might  be 
happening  to  his  spine.  The  other  man  looks  as  if  he 
might  have  spent  those  same  years  at  West  Point  with 
officers  and  fellow-students  who  compelled  him  to  stand 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING 


straight  whether  he  wished  to  or  not.  Yet  the  boyhood 
of  the  two  men  may  have  been  the  same.  Indeed,  the 
difference  just  now  lies  entirely  with  the  two  positions 
in  which  they  did  their  rowing.  Their  muscles,  when 
they  walk,  simply  betray  some  facts 
about  their  recent  history. 

Look  at  the  hand  of  a  piano 
player,  —  it  is  open  because  he  al- 
ways exercises  it  hard  in  that  posi- 
tion ;  and  the  hand  of  the  oarsman, 
—  see  how  his  fingers  curl  up  as  if 
they  were  ready  to  grasp  his  oar 
even  when  it  is  not  in  sight.  An 
oarsman's  hand  tells  the  story  about 
his  occupation. 

From  the  man  who  digs  to  earn 
his  daily  bread  on  the  farm  or  in 
the  coal  mine,  to  the  man  who 
climbs  a  mast  and  risks  his  life  in 
the  tempest,  —  through  each  occu- 
pation of  life  the  muscles  of  the  body  are  called  upon 
to  do  their  hardest  work  in  special  positions.  And  it 
sometimes  seems  as  if  numberless  human  beings  would 
have  to  submit  to  their  fate  and  accept  muscles  which 
their  work  has  forced  on  them;  for  after  a  man  has 
chosen  his  life  work  he  cannot  leave  it  simply  because 
he  objects  to  the  shape  which  it  is  giving  to  his  body. 


BENT  BY  AGE 


1 8  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Fortunately,  however,  there  is  a  happy  outlook  even 
for  such  people  as  are  obliged  to  work  with  their  backs 
bent,  for  there  is  another  important  fact  about  this  law 
of  contracting  and  stretching.  I  give  it  concisely: 

Brief,  vigorous  exercise  in  the  right  position  will  undo 
much  of  the  harm  of  long-continued  exercise  in  the  wrong 
position. 

If  a  man  who  works  in  a  bent  posture  all  day  will 
spend  five  minutes  a  day  in  taking  vigorous  exercise 
with  his  back  straight,  alternately  tightening  hard  and 
then  relaxing  the  muscles  of  his  back  and  neck,  he 
will  find  that,  within  one  month,  there  will  be  an  im- 
provement. By  this  simple  device  a  man  may  save  him- 
self from  his  rounded  back  and  be  able  to  hold  his  head 
where  it  should  be. 

Let  the  oarsman  who  objects  to  hands  that  curve  like 
stiffened  claws  spend  several  minutes  each  day  in  first 
extending  his  fingers  forcibly,  then  in  relaxing  them, 
and  he  will  be  sure  to  see  results. 

From  these  facts  we  learn  that  by  the  vigorous  exer- 
cise of  one  set  of  muscles  for  a  few  minutes  each  day, 
wre  may  be  able  to  overcome  the  harm  which  is  done  by 
the  long-continued  plodding  work  of  another  group  of 
muscles. 

It  often  happens  that  the  muscles  of  the  chest  be- 
come thin  and  flabby  for  lack  of  xexercise,  even  while  the 
back  has  become  very  strong.  But  these  muscles  may 


MUSCLES  CONTRACTING  AND  STRETCHING          19 

be  saved.  Throw  the  shoulders  well  back  and  exercise 
chest  muscles  hard  in  this  position.  Exercise  them  while 
they  are  thus  stretched  and  they  will  grow  large  and 
prominent  in  spite  of  what  the  man's  occupation  may  be. 
In  this  work  of  changing  the  shape  and  the  power  of 
a  muscle  the  greatest  strain  must  be  put  on  the  last 
third  or  the  last  quarter  of  the  contraction  wrhich  it 
makes.  Remember  that  each  muscle  is  inclined  to  stay 
in  the  shape  which  it  takes  when  it  does  its  hardest 
work.;  in  other  words,  the  law  of  the  body  is  that  doing 
a  thing  makes  the  body  shape  itself  to  that  act. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF 

The  audience  was  greatly  interested,  for  the  doctor 
who  gave  the  lecture  had  just  said  that,  with  very  little 

trouble,  each  man  present 
could  increase  the  size  of  his 
arm  three  quarters  of  an  inch 
within  one  month,  and  could 
increase  his  chest  measure  an 
inch  and  a  half  during  the 
same  length  of  time.  Those 
who  listened  were  business 
men,  and  they  were  specially 
pleased  with  the  part  of  the 
lecture  which  told  them  how 
they  might  set  to  work  to  se- 
cure this  astonishing  growth 

EXERCISE  FOR  THE  BICEPS  r          ,  , 

for  themselves. 

To  show  what  he  meant,  the  lecturer  asked  his  friend, 
a  medical  student,  to  illustrate  the  points  one  by  one  as 
he  himself  explained  them.  The  student  was  well-knit 
and  well-built.  No  unnecessary  fat  concealed  the  shape 
of  his  muscles,  and  he  was  ready  to  show  the  other 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF  21 

men  what  they  also  might  do  in  behalf  of  their  own 
development. 

For  a  while  it  sounded  as  if  the  whole  talk  were  to  be 
a  lecture  on  the  size  and  shape  of  different  muscles;  for 
the  doctor  asked  his  friend  to  show  his  muscles  one  after 
the  other  in  quick  succession.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  show 
us  the  effect  on  the  biceps  of  rotating  the  arm;  the 
forearm;  now  the  leg, —  the  big  muscles;  show  that 
tensor.  Now  again  will  you 
go  through  four  or  five  exer- 
cises that  bring  into  play  in 
succession  first  one  arm,  then 
the  other,  and  so  on  ? " 

The  student  acted  on  the 
suggestions  as  fast  as  they 
were  given.  His  smooth  back 

,  .  f  WELL-DEVELOPED  MUSCLES 

and   arms    gave    no    sign    or 

separate  muscles  while  he  stood  quietly  waiting  to  be 
told  what  to  do.  But  as  soon  as  he  followed  directions 
and  used  arm,  leg,  back,  or  shoulders,  there  sprang  into 
view  a  succession  of  splendid  muscles  that  seemed  to 
have  been  lying  in  ambush  under  the  skin. 

In  all  this  the  student  held  no  apparatus,  but  he  used 
arms  and  legs  as  if  he  were  pulling  against  some  invisi- 
ble weight.  He  was,  in  fact,  pulling  against  the  force  of 
his  own  other  muscles,  —  antagonistic  muscles  they  are 
called.  Try  this  for  yourself  with  your  forearm  or  with 


22 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


your  back.    Decide  to  bring  out  one  muscle  and  see  how 
many  others  are  called  into  action. 

The  lecturer  then  explained  that  muscles  can  be  devel- 
oped in  this  way  with  no  apparatus  whatever.  He  said 
that  the  power  lies  in  making  certain  muscles  pull  against 
their  antagonistic  muscles.  As  he  gave  his  directions  he 
added  that  muscles  must  pull  as  hard  as  possible  for  a 
few  seconds  at  a  time,  must  then  let  go  completely,  then 

pull  again  for  a  few  seconds, 
and  so  keep  up  the  alternation 
for  five  minutes  in  the  morn- 
ing, for  five  minutes  at  night, 
and  for  ten  minutes  a  day  be- 
tween times.  Men  who  pro- 
posed to  develop  arm  or  chest 
could,  he  said,  put  in  the  extra 
ten  minutes  whenever  con- 
venient. 

It  seems  that  the  different  pulls  do  not  need  to  be  in 
close  succession,  but  may  be  slipped  in  anywhere  during 
the  day.  The  whole  process  of  developing  a  particular 
muscle  or  set  of  muscles  may  thus  be  carried  on  without 
apparatus,  without  gymnastics,  without  fuss  or  feathers 
or  display  in  any  direction.  The  student  testified  that 
what  he  had  done  for  himself  in  this  way  had  in- 
creased the  size  of  his  own  arm  an  inch  within  a  single 
month. 


EXERCISE  WITHOUT  APPARATUS 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF  23 

As  for  securing  really  big  muscles,  however,  anything 
enormous  is  a  disadvantage  rather  than  an  advantage  in 
the  health  line.  Still  the  fact  that  up  to  a  definite  limit 
we  have  the  power  to  increase 
the  size  of  arm  and  chest  and 
leg  proves  once  again  how 
truly  each  of  us  is  master 
and  architect  of  the  body  we 
are  building. 

But  what  about  the  material 
itself  —  the  substance  out  of 
which  the  body  piles  a  muscle 

.     .         ,  ,  ,  HE  DEVELOPS  ARM  MUSCLES 

into  shape  and  compels  it  to 

increase  in  size  whenever  it  is  forced  to  do  unusual  work  ? 
Get  a  piece  of  lean  corned  beef  from  the  butcher ;  have 

it  boiled  thoroughly;  place  a 
board  over  it  and  press  down 
upon  it  hard  enough  to 
squeeze  out  all  the  liquid ; 
remove  the  board,  and  with 
a  needle  of  some  sort  pick 
apart  the  fibers  as  well  as  you 
can.  Pick  them  away  from 

TAKING  THE  MEASUREMENT  Q^h  Qther  ^  finer  and  finer 

threads  until  you  think  you  have  reached  the  limit  in  size. 

Now  if  you  can  get  a  good  magnifying  glass,  use  it  in 

examining  one  of  these  bits  of  beef  muscle.    You  are 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


able  to  pull  them  apart  because  the  outside  wrapping  of 
each  has  been  changed  by  boiling. 

However  large  or  small  a  muscle  may  be,  and  wherever 
that  muscle  does  its  work,  whether  in  creatures  that 
walk  or  fly  or  swim,  every  active  muscle  is  made  up 

of  fibers  wrapped  to- 
gether in  bundles. 
Shapes  are  different ; 
size  varies  from  those 
that  draw  an  eyelid 
up  and  down  to  those 
that  kick  a  football 
to  its  goal ;  location 
is  different;  strength 
and  power  of  endur- 
ance are  different ;  but 
each  muscle  that  has 
ever  been  studied  has 
been  found  to  be  made 
up  of  fibers.  A  few 
of  these  are  wrapped 
together  as  a  small  bundle ;  small  bundles  are  gathered 
into  bundles  that  are  larger ;  large  bundles  become 
larger  yet ;  and  thus  from  smaller  to  larger  are  the 
muscles  built  up.  Each  is  a  bundle  of  other  bundles; 
each  is  adapted  in  size  and  shape  to  the  special  work 
which  it  must  do ;  and  every  fiber  in  the  bundles,  large 


MUSCLES  OF  DIFFERENT  SHAPE 
(After  Schmidt) 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF 


INDIVIDUAL 
MUSCLE  FIBERS 


and  small,  is  inclosed  in  its  own  sarcolemma.  This  sarco- 
lemma,  then,  is  simply  an  outer  wrap  which  separates 
each  fiber  from  all  the  others.  In 
addition,  however,  there  is  a  close 
network  of  substance  called  con- 
nective tissue,  which  holds  the  in- 
dividual fibers  together.  In  this 
connective  tissue  are  the  tiny  blood 
vessels  and  the  slender  nerves 
which  supply  blood  and  stimulus 
to  each  smallest  fiber  of  the  largest 
as  well  as  of  the  smallest  muscles  of 
the  body.  Fine  threads 

of  connective  tissue  also  stretch  away  from 
each  end  of  the  muscle  fibers  and  help 
form  the  tendon.  Thus,  although  each  sepa- 
rate fiber  is  a  part  of  the  muscle  as  a  whole, 
it  also  seems  to  be  an  independent  small 
center  of  power  doing  its  own  independent 
work. 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  no  single  fiber 
MUSCLE  FIBER  carries  its  independence  very  far.  Generally 
when  its  neighbors  receive  your  command 
to  go  to  work  it  receives  the  same  com- 
mand. When  they  rest  it  rests  too.  When 
they  are  destroyed  by  suffering,  age,  or  death,  it  endures 
all  that  they  endure.  Yet,  after  all,  the  work  of  the 


END  OF  A 


It  shows  fine 

threads  which 

help  form  the 

tendon 


26 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


millions  of  fibers  which  are  held  together  by  connective 
tissue  in  a  single  muscle  is  really  the  sum  of  the  work 
which  the  fibers  do  separately. 

More  than  this,  it  is  the  amount  of  connective  tissue 
between  the  fibers  that  explains  the  difference  between 
tough  and  tender  meat.  With  age  and  with  exercise  this 
tissue  gradually  thickens  its  substance  during  life  until 

finally  certain  muscles  become 
too  tough  to  be  eaten  without 
long  boiling. 

A  young  chicken  is  tender 
because  its  tissue  has  not  been 
toughened  by  work.  Tender 
steak  comes  from  that  part  of 

A  BUNDLE  OF  MUSCLE  FIBERS 

the  animal  which  has  had  little 
exercise.  When,  therefore,  we 
speak  of  tough  and  tender  meat 
we  really  refer  to  muscles  in  which  the  connective  tissue 
has  or  has  not  been  toughened. 

These  facts  apply  not  only  to  the  muscles  of  those 
animals  that  are  killed  by  human  beings  for  food,  but 
also  to  our  own  arms  and  legs.  Let  an  athlete  bend  up 
his  arm  for  your  benefit.  You  may  try  to  press  it  with 
your  hand  and  it  will  resist  you  almost  like  a  piece  of 
wood.  This  is  no  mystery  to  you,  for  you  understand 
that  each  fiber  in  that  muscle  has  been  toughened  by 
use.  If  the  muscle  itself  were  found  in  the  shop  of  a 


Each  is  covered  with   its  own 

sarcolemma ;  connective  tissue 

is  between  the  fibers 


SUPERFICIAL  MUSCLES  OF  THE  BODY 

Each  is  fastened  to  bones  that  lie  underneath 

27 


28  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

butcher  and  were  offered  for  sale,  a  wise  cook  would 
refuse  to  buy  it.  He  would  complain  that  even  boiling 
would  not  make  it  tender. 

These  muscles  which  we  have  been  studying  belong 
to  the  skeleton.  They  are  always  attached  to  bones  and 
are  therefore  called  skeletal  or  voluntary  muscles.  There 
are  indeed  two  classes  of  muscles : 

1.  Voluntary  muscles,    of   which    there    are    five 
hundred.    They  are  called  voluntary  because   each 
is  under  the  power  of  our  will.    Through  them  we 
walk  and  run  and  climb  and  swim ;   through  them 
we  talk  and  sing  and  play  the  piano  and  cover  our- 
selves with  glory  on  the  athletic  field.    They  serve 
us  when  we  give  our  commands.    Not  so,  however, 
with  the  second  class. 

2.  Involuntary  muscles.    These    form    the    heart 
and  are  also  in  the  walls  of  the  arteries  and  of  the 
alimentary  canal,  —  the  food  tube.    They  are  deaf 
when  we  command,  but  they  continue  to  be  busy 
whether  we  are  asleep  or  awake,  whether  we  stand 
or  sit,   whether  we   laugh    or   sigh   or  cry,   run  or 
climb  or  swim.    Whatever  we  do,  they  are  unceas- 
ingly occupied  with  the  internal  work  of  the  body, 
pumping  the  blood  round  through  heart  and  blood 
vessels,  caring  for  the   food  we   eat,   and   carrying 
on  those  central,  vital  processes  of  life  over  which 
we  have  no  conscious  control. 


THE  MUSCLE  ITSELF  29 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  muscular  machinery  of  any 
human  being  weighs  as  much  as  all  the  rest  of  his  body 
put  together  and  weighed  in  a  lump.  A  few  separate 
muscles  are  given  in  the  picture  on  page  27,  but  there 
is  no  special  reason  why  we  should  learn  their  names 
by  heart.  Nevertheless  the  biceps  is  not  easily  forgotten. 
It  is  the  muscle  best  known  to  every  boy,  for  it  may 
give  him  pride  or  disgrace  him,  according  to  the  pulling 
power  which  has  been  developed  in  it  by  its  master. 


CHAPTER  V 

STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES 

A  certain  teacher  who  owned  a  skeleton  was  in  the 
habit  of  throwing  it  over  his  shoulder  when  he  carried  it 
from  the  storeroom  where  he  kept  it  to  the  lecture  room 
where  he  showed  it  to  his  students.  And  as  he  walked 
it  hung  from  his  back  as  a  clattering  set  of  dangling 
bones.  It  is  true  that  the  separate  bones  were  held  to- 
gether at  the  joints  by  artificial  contrivances;  but  that 
was  all.  By  no  chance  could  the  skeleton  have  stood 
on  its  own  unaided  legs.  Those  who  saw  this  group 
of  bones  for  the  first  time  understood  as  never  before 
that  bones  are  as  dependent  on  ligaments  and  muscle 
to  keep  them  together  as  are  tendon  and  muscle  de- 
pendent on  bone  to  hold  them  in  place. 

Examine  a  bone  fresh  from  the  butcher's.  Notice  the 
outside,  —  firm  and  closely  woven,  as  it  has  to  be,  to 
supply  a  surface  for  muscles  to  hold  to.  Look  at  the  in- 
side. There  we  find  looser  texture.  We  know  now  how 
it  happens  that  the  bone  is  not  only  large  and  strong 
but  light  and  firm.  It  is  indeed  by  no  means  a  solid 
thing.  A  magnifying  glass  shows  the  spaces  even  better 
yet.  You  may  now  see  smooth  channels  on  the  outside, 

30 


THE  CENTRAL  SUPPORT  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY 

A,  skull  (composed  of  22  bones);  B,  spinal  column  (composed  of  33  vertebrae); 

C,  sternum  or  breastbone;  7J>,  ribs  (12  on  each  side);   E,  clavicle;  F,  humerus; 

G,  radius;  77,  ulna;  7,  carpal  (7  bones  in  each  wrist  and  ankle);/,  metacarpal 

(5  bones  in  the  palm  of  each  hand  and  instep);  K,  phalanges  (14  bones  that  form 

the  fingers  and  the  toes  of  each  hand  and  foot) ;  Z,  pelvis  (composed  of  4  bones) ; 

M,  femur;  N,  tibia;   O,  fibula 

31 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


along  which  the  blood  vessels  ran,  and  tiny  openings 
from  the  surface  to  the  interior,  into  which  the  smallest 
blood  vessels  went,  to  keep  up  the  life  of  the  bone. 

A  chemist  will  take  the  same  bone  and  study  it  in 
another  and  a  different  way.  He  will  keep  it  in  acid 
for  a  while  and  will  then  tell  us  that  he  has  taken 

all  the  lime  out;  that  he 
has  left  nothing  but  gela- 
tin. He  may  tie  it  into  a 
knot  and  let  us  see  how 
pliable  it  is.  Taking  an- 
other bone,  he  will  hold 
it  in  fire  for  a  while,  and 
when  we  touch  it  the 
whole  structure  will  go  to 

BONE  CUT  LENGTHWISE  (A)  AND  'es  jjke  a  h          of  aghes> 

CROSSWISE  (B) 

,     "  That  is  mostly  lime,"  he 

Blood  vessels  and  nerves  run  through  the  * 

canals,  and  these  canals  are  joined  to  each    will      tell      US  \       "I      have 
other  by  channels  yet  more  minute  111 

burned    out    the    organic 

matter  which  becomes  gelatin  when  boiled."  A  cook 
will  take  a  bone  with  no  meat  on  it,  will  boil  it  for 
several  hours,  set  the  liquid  away  to  cool,  and  when  it 
is  cold  she  will  have  a  thick  jelly  to  add  to  her  soups. 
It  is  gelatin  made  from  the  bone.  From  these  and  other 
experiments  we  learn  that  bones  are  made  up  of  lime 
and  of  an  animal  substance,  which  becomes  gelatin  after 
being  cooked.  We  also  learn  that  in  old  age  bones 


STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES  33 

contain  the  most  lime,  and  that  the  younger  the  child 
the  less  lime  is  there  in  his  bones. 

It  appears  that  the  proportion  of  lime  increases  from 
year  to  year  through  life,  until  finally  the  entire  system 
of  bones  becomes  too  brittle  to  make  it  safe  for  aged 
people  to  risk  even  so  small  a  thing  as  a  tumble  on  the 
sidewalk.  Many  an  older  bone  has  snapped  off  short 
where  a  younger  bone  would  have  saved  it- 
self by  bending  a  trifle. 

This  brings  us  back  to  the  subject  of  the 
reason  why  children  have  the  power  to  in- 
fluence the  shape  of  their  bones  while  they 
are  young.  The  animal  part  not  only  pre- 
vents bones  from  being  brittle,  but  it  keeps 
them  pliable. 

Knowing  this  fact,  I  applied  it  to  the  case  After  acid  has 
of  a  friend  of  mine.    She  was  getting  a  hoi-  taken  the  lime 
low  chest  and  I  told  her  how  to  save  herself. 
"  It  will  be  hopeless  after  you  are  twenty,"  I  said.  "  But 
you  are  only  twelve  now.    Your  bones  are  still  pliable. 
If  you  will  raise  your  chest  with  vigor,  fill  your  lungs 
with  air,  hold  yourself  in  this  position  for  three  or  four 
seconds  at  a  time  and  do  it  many  times  a  day,  you  will 
compel  your  bones  to  take  the  shape  for  which  you 
will  be  thankful  the  rest  of  your  life."    I  suggested  that 
she  give  special  attention  to  the  matter  on  the  way  to 
and  from  school  each  day.    She  liked  my  scheme  so 


34  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

well  and  practiced  it  so  faithfully  that  within  a  month 

the  curve  of  her  chest  had  improved. 

In  so  far  as  you  can,  feel  of  your  own 
bones  and  decide  for  yourself  why  each 
has  its  own  particular  shape.  You  will 
find  long  bones  for  legs  and  arms  ;  flat 
bones  for  shoulder  blades,  breastbone, 
and  hips  ;  curved  long  bones  for  the 
ribs  ;  curved  flat  bones  for  the  skull  ; 
and  you  will  discover  that  these  latter 
are  so  closely  joined  together  that  your 
head  seems  like  a  solid,  single  bone. 
There  are  queer,  jagged  bones,  one 
above  the  other,  in  a  column,  for  the 
back,  and  many  small  bones  of  hand 
and  foot  deftly  held  together,  each  do- 
ing its  part  in  stiffening  up  the  body 
and  in  making  it  serviceable  to  us. 

All  grown  persons  have   the    same 
A  BONE  CUT         number  of  pieces  to  the  skeleton,  but 

THROUGH  LENGTHWISE  the  names  of  our  two  hundred  separate 

The  outer  layer  is  com-    bones  are   of  no  vital   importance  to  US. 
pact  and  firm,  the  inner 

substance  is  a  network  Still  the  figure  on  page  31  gives  a  few, 


because   it  seems  almost  discourteous 
and  strong  to  label  such  useful  articles  as  nothing 

more  than  long  and  short  and  flat  and  crooked  bones. 
Most  important  of  all,  perhaps,  is  the  graceful  column 


STIFF  SUPPORT  FOR  GROUPS  OF  MUSCLES 


35 


Cervical 


Thoracic 
(or  Dorsal] 


of  the  spine.  Many  a  man  has  lived  for  years  without 
an  arm,  without  a  leg,  without  bones  of  various  sizes  and 
shapes ;  but  no  man  has  ever  been 
able  to  live  for  a  moment  without 
that  pile  of  thirty-two  small  bones 
that  holds  his  head  erect,  that  keeps 
his  ribs  in  place,  and  that  guards 
the  treasure  of  his  spinal  cord. 

In  this  spine  each  separate  verte- 
bra is  held  to  the  one  above  it  and 
to  the  one  below  it  by  muscles  and 
ligaments  on  each  side,  and  because 
of  their  muscles  and  ligaments  these 
individual  vertebrae  are  no  more  re- 
sponsible for  the  shape  they  take,  or 
for  the  twists  and  curves  they  join 
in  making  when  a  gymnast  bends 
his  back  from  side  to  side,  than 
are  the  dumb-bells  and  the  pulleys 
which  the  same  gymnast  uses ;  for 
the  bones  of  the  spine  simply  rock 
back  and  forth  upon  each  other,  ac- 
cording as  muscles  on  this  side  or 
that  give  the  needed  pull. 

Just  here  recall  a  few  facts.    As 
we  know,  young  bones  are  largely  cartilage ;  they  take 
new  shapes  if  they  are  put  under  special,  oft-repeated 


Lumbar 


Sacral 


A  SIDE  VIEW  OF  THE 
SPINAL  COLUMN 

Each  group  of  vertebrae  has 
its  special  name 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


VERTEBRA  SEEN  FROM 
ABOVE 


pressure.  A  child  at  a  school  desk  easily  gets  into  the 
habit  of  sitting  with  the  vertebrae  pressed  against  each 
other  at  the  same  angle  every  day.  Small  muscles  do  the 

pulling ;  they  grow  strong  as  they 
are  exercised.  In  the  meantime, 
also,  the  separate  vertebrae  are 
yielding  to  pressure.  On  one  side 
they  are  growing  thinner;  on  the 
other  side,  not  being  pressed  up- 
on, they  grow  thicker.  The  result 
is  inevitable.  Some  of  the  bones 
of  the  back  will  become  wedge- 
shaped  ;  and,  sad  to  say,  a  back  that  has  developed 
wedge-shaped  vertebrae  —  vertebrae  that  have  kept  their 
wedge  shape  until  they  are  hardened  for  life  —  can 
never  hope  to  be  straight  again. 
Certain  other  bones  may,  how- 
ever, be  changed  by  what  they  are 
compelled  to  do.  Suppose  you  de- 
cide that  you  wish  those  that  are 
larger  and  rougher.  You  may 
travel  a  straight  road  to  that  defi- 
nite end.  Work  the  muscles  which 
are  fastened  to  these  bones ;  work 
them  hard ;  be  persistent  and  the  result  will  come. 
In  studying  human  skeletons  it  is  not  difficult  to  pick 
out  the  bones  of  such  persons  as  did  vigorous  muscular 


VERTEBRA  SEEN 

FROM    THE 

SIDE 


WEDGE-SHAPED  VERTEBRA 
Pressure  was  too  often  on  the  same  side 


38  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

work  by  their  heavier  and  rougher  character,  while  the 
thin  walls  and  fragile  internal  substance  of  other  bones 
show  that  the  muscles  of  the  arms  and  the  legs  were 
paralyzed  or  wholly  useless. 


BLOCKS  SHOWING  HOW  THE  VERTEBR/K  ARE  HELD  TOGETHER 
BY  LIGAMENTS  AND  MUSCLES 

/,  ligament;  m,  muscle 

Evidently,  then,  active  exercise  leaves  its  mark  even 
on  the  bony  part  of  the  body.  Thus,  without  making 
any  close  examination  of  our  own  separate  bones,  we 
may  know,  by  the  exercise  we  give  them,  what  their 
prospects  are  year  by  year. 


CHAPTER  VI 
BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET 

As  I  looked  at  the  small,  deformed  feet  of  our  friend 
the  Chinese  lady,  I  easily  imagined  what  had  happened 


CHINESE  SHOES  Two  AND  A  HALF  INCHES  LONG 
The  huge  ankle  shows  how  deformed  the  foot  really  is 

to  the  bones  that  made  up  the  bulk  of  the  huge  ankle 
above  the  shoe.     No  one  saw  this  ankle.     All  we  saw 

39 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 


was  the  dainty,  handmade  shoe  two  and  a  half  inches 
long,  embroidered  in  silk  of  lovely  shades,  and  made  of 
cloth  and  silk  above  a  leather  sole. 

For  hundreds  of  years  Chinese  custom  demanded 
that  all  the  women  of  the  upper  classes  in  the  empire 
should  hobble  through  life  on  deformed  feet.  Some  feet 
were  larger,  some  were  smaller,  but  in  certain  regions 
the  most  stylish  shoes  were  two  and  a  half  inches  long. 
This,  then,  was  the  size  of  foot  which  the  ladies  wished 
to  have.  To  secure  it  a  mother  began  to  bind  the  feet  of 

her  daughters 
when  the  girls 
were  five  or 
six  years  old. 
Often  the  girls 
themselves 

wished  to  have  this  done.  Nevertheless  the  bandages 
were  drawn  so  tight  that  night  after  night  young  girls 
have  cried  themselves  to  sleep  in  China  because  their 
feet  in  their  bandages  hurt  them  so. 

Almost  never,  however,  were  the  bandages  left  off. 
They  were  changed  from  time  to  time.  But  when  they 
were  put  on  again  they  were  pulled  ever  tighter  until 
in  the  course  of  years  the  child  secured  the  foot  which 
could  never  again  help  her  by  the  movement  of  the 
bones  which  formed  it.  The  toes  had  been  drawn  in 
under  the  foot;  the  heel  had  been  drawn  forward  to 


THE  BONES  OF  THE  FOOT 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 


ND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET  41 

meet  them;  muscles  and  tendons  had  been  kept  from 
growing,  while  the  bones  themselves  had  been  obliged 
to  take  strange  new  shapes  as  they  fitted  themselves 
into  such  space  as  they  could  get. 

When  I  saw  my  friend  the  Chinese  lady,  her  feet  were 
set  for  life.  They  gave  her  little  discomfort,  and  she  her- 
self now  took  entire  charge  of  their  binding.  Until  she 
dies,  however,  she  must  hobble  through  her  duties  and 
her  pleasures  almost  as  helpless  as  if 
her  feet  were  cut  off  at  the  ankles. 

Fortunately  for  China,  the 
government    has    now   for- 
bidden foot 
binding 
throughout 
the   empire. 

BONES  AND  LIGAMENTS  OF  THE  FOOT  AND  ANKLE 

At     last, 

therefore,  the  girls  of  the  land  may  sleep  in  comfort, 
and  the  future  ladies  of  the  Celestial  Empire  may  walk 
about  with  such  ease  and  grace  as  can  only  come  when 
the  entire  foot  is  at  the  service  of  the  body. 

Even  in  other  lands  than  China  there  is  often  lack  of 
comfort,  while  very  often  all  trace  of  grace  is  also  lack- 
ing. When  you  see  your  own  bare  foot  to-night  com- 
pare its  natural  shape  with  the  shape  of  fashionable 
shoes.  Remember  the  following  facts  and  decide  what 
the  sensible  course  of  action  is: 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


1.  Each  foot  is  made  up  of  twenty-six  small  bones. 

2.  These  bones  are  joined  to  each  other  by  liga- 
ments and  muscles. 

3.  No  foot  can  be  in  thoroughly  good  order,  neither 
can  it  exercise  itself  with  ease,  unless  each  muscle, 
bone,  and  ligament  is  allowed  to  move  with  freedom. 

4.  If  the  arch  of  the  foot  is  flattened,  health  is 
apt  to  suffer.    Indeed,  it  is  so  serious  a  matter  to  be 

flat-footed  that  men  with  this 
handicap  are  refused  admit- 
tance to  the  United  States 
army.  Test  the  condition  of 
the  arch  of  your  own  foot  by 
dipping  the  bare  sole  lightly 
in  water,  then  pressing  it  on 
blotting  paper.  The  imprint 
made  will  show  whether  the 
foot  is  flat  or  arched.  Those 
who  stand  still  for  hours  every 
day  are  in  danger  of  flattening 
their  feet.  While  they  stand  they  should  therefore 
save  the  arch  by  resting  the  weight  of  the  body  first 
on  one  foot  for  a  while,  then  on  the  other.  If  you 
have  any  tendency  to  flat  feet,  help  yourself  by  the 
following  exercise.  Stand  with  toes  turned  inwards, 
and  while  in  this  position  rise  as  high  as  you  can 
on  your  toes.  Do  this  one  hundred  times,  twice  a 


FOOTPRINTS 

A,  an  arched  foot ;  B,  a  flat 
foot 

(After  Schmidt) 


BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM  FOR  THE  FEET  43 

day;   or,  instead  of  counting,  rise  and  fall  on  the 
toes  until  the  muscles  are  tired. 

5.  A  young  foot  grows  by  day  as  well  as  by 
night,  and  should  never  be  cramped  when  it  is  in 
use.  This  does  not  mean  that  a  shoe  should  be  too 
loose  for  comfort.  It  means  that  the  foot  is  one  of 
the  most  useful  pieces  of  machinery  we  have,  and 
that  we  are  in  better  health  and  have  a  more 
graceful  walk  when  our  feet  are  not  uncomfort- 
ably hampered  by  our  shoes. 


A  WOMAN'S  FOOT  DEFORMED  BY  FASHIONABLE  SHOES 
(After  Schmidt) 

It  is  a  sad  fact  that  multitudes  of  men  and  women 
would  be  filled  with  confusion  if  they  were  obliged  to 
show  the  shape  of  the  feet  they  have  secured  for  them- 
selves. The  explanation  of  the  shape  lies,  of  course,  in 
the  shoes  they  have  worn. 

The  best  health  of  the  foot  calls  for  attention  to  the 
following  points: 

1.  Wear  shoes  with  soles  as  broad  as  your  foot 
is  when  you  stand  with  no  shoe  on. 

2.  Do  not  lace  your  shoes  so  snugly  about   the 
ankle    that    the    pressure    will    interfere    with    the 


44  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

circulation  of   blood.    Cold  feet   often   come   from 
tight  shoes,  tightly  laced. 

3.  Let  the  heels  of  your  shoes  be  broad  and  low. 

4.  Never  wear  tight  garters.    They  interfere  with 
the  movement  of  the  blood  through  the  blood  vessels. 


A  B  c 

THE  SHAPE  OF  THE  FOOT  AND  THE  SHAPE  OF  THE  SHOE 

Dotted  lines  show  the  natural  shape  of  the  foot ;  solid  lines  show  the  sole 
of  the  shoe.  A,  correct  shape ;  />',  the  large  toe  is  drawn  in  too  far ;  C, 
the  shoe  is  too  narrow.  If  you  wish  a  comfortable  and  a  well-shaped  shoe, 
get  one  that  is  wide  enough  but  longer  than  you  need.  This  will  give  you 
the  appearance  of  having  a  slender  foot 

5.  Remember  that  tan  shoes  are  rather  better  than 
black  shoes  for  summer  wear  because  they  do  not 
keep  the  feet  so  warm. 

6.  Keep  the  feet  dry  and  warm,  but  if  possible 
avoid  overheating  them. 

7.  Be  sure  that  your  shoes  are  large  enough  to 
give  your  toes  as  well  as  your  ankle  a  chance  to 
move  and  to  be  useful  when  you  walk. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 

During  the  summer  of  1905  the  following  item  ap- 
peared in  the  New  York  Times. 

ELEPHANT'S  ANKLE  SPRAINED 
ALICE  SLIPS  ON  A  BANANA  PEEL  AND  GETS  A  BAD  TWIST 

Alice,  the  big  elephant  in  Bostock's  at  Coney  Island,  has  a  sprained 
ankle.  It  is  a  bad  sprain,  too,  mainly  because  it  is  a  big  one  ;  there 
is  nothing  slender  about  Alice's  ankles.  Alice  was  crossing  a  gangway 
into  the  arena  when  she  slipped  on  a  plebeian  banana  peel. 

Alice  saved  herself  from  falling  by  winding  her  trunk  around  the 
leg  of  her  mate,  Roger.  Alice's  ankle  is  now  in  a  big  plaster  cast, 
which  makes  her  leg  look  like  a  huge  fireproof  pipe. 

No  doubt  Alice,  the  elephant,  suffered  as  much  from 
her  sprained  ankle  as  did  my  friend  Alice,  the  human 
being,  who  sprained  her  ankle  at  about  the  same  time 
by  slipping  on  another  banana  peel.  In  each  case  liga- 
ments that  held  the  bones  in  their  sockets  and  tendons 
that  held  the  muscles  to  the  bones  were  more  or  less 
pulled  from  their  firm  fastenings.  And  when  a  pull  does 
as  much  mischief  as  that,  recovery  is  often  slower  than 
in  the  case  of  a  broken  bone. 

45 


46 


LOWER  LEG  WITH  ITS 

MUSCLES  AND  TENDONS 

(After  Schmidt) 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Bend  your  ankle  in  every  pos- 
sible direction  and  learn  what  you 
can  about  it  from  your  sensations  as 
you  twist  it.  Draw  up  the  muscles 
in  the  calf  of  your  leg  so  hard  that 
you  think  you  feel  the  spots  where 
they  are  fastened  to  the  bones  above 
and  below.  Now  recall  facts  which 
you  know,  and  decide  what  is  taking 
place.  Remember  that  muscles  end 
in  tendons,  and  that  it  is  by  its  ten- 
don alone  that  a  muscle  is  able  to 
move  the  bone  which  supports  it. 

For  the  muscle  of  the  calf  of  the 
leg,  tendons  are  fastened  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  thigh  bone  and  to  the  heel 
bone,  and  the  work  of  contracting 
is  done  between  the  two  firmly  held 
points.  Through  this  muscular  con- 
traction we  walk  and  jump  and  run 
to  win  the  race  or  to  take  our  exer- 
cise. Tendons  must  be  strong  indeed 
when  they  refuse  to  give  way  even 
under  the  tremendous  strain  which 
is  put  upon  them.  Follow  the  facts 
about  the  biceps.  It  is  fitted  for  one 
particular  kind  of  work,  and  it  does 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 


47 


THE  BICEPS 
MUSCLE 


its  work  through  the  help  of  tendons  which  hold  one 
end  of  the  muscle  to  the  shoulder,  the  other 
end  to  a  bone  of  the  forearm.     When  the 
muscle  contracts  the  lower  bone  is  drawn  up, 
because,  although  the  tendons  themselves  do 
not  contract,  they  cling  to  the 
bones  and  thus  help  do  the  pull- 
ing.   Without  tendons,   indeed, 
no  muscle  could  ever  move  a 
bone.    Muscles  of  the  back  are 
held   to  the  spine,  which  they 

Control    by   tendons;    neck    niUS-    When  it  contracts  the  lower  bone 

J  t  is  drawn  up ;  the  dotted  line  shows 

cleS     hold     the     head     in     place    that  the  muscle  is  then  thicker  and 

by  tendons ;    and   each    of  the 

twenty-four  ribs  has  its  own  supply 
of  muscles  and  tendons.  By  the 
contraction  of  the  muscles  the  ten- 
dons pull  the  ribs  up  where  we 
wish  them  to  be. 

The  serious  part  of  strained  ten- 
dons is  that  the  union  of  tendon 
and  bone  is  so  close  that,  in  a  bad 

MUSCLES  BETWEEN  THE  RIBS  sPrain>  the  outside  covering  of  the 

When  the  muscles  contract     bone     itself     is      Sometimes     pulled 
the  ribs  are  drawn  up          away    w^    faQ    tendon.     When    this 

happens  a  sprain   is  a  far  more  serious  affair  to  cure 
than  a  clean-cut  bone  break;  for  the  broken  ends  of  a 


48 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


bone  knit  together  far  more  readily  than   do   the  torn 

ends  of  a  tendon. 

After  all,  however,  the  ligaments  and  bone  surfaces 

are  quite  as  important  to  us  as  the  tendon,  because  they 

determine  the  direction  in  which  a  bone   must  move. 

Some  of  them  allow  movement  in  one  direction,  some 

in  another.  Prove  this  for 
yourself.  By  every  twist  that 
you  can  make,  try  to  decide 
where  your  joints  are  and 
what  style  of  joint  each  one 
is.  You  will  find  that  some 
work  back  and  forth  like  a 
hinge,  while  others  have  the 
power  to  move  back  and  forth 
and  sidewise  too.  The  differ- 
ent kinds  of  movement  are 
the  result  of  different  kinds 


Muscle 
fiber 


Tendon 


Bone 
covering 


MUSCLE  ENDING  IN  TENDON;  TENDON  of  joints.    Each  is  needed  in 

FASTENED  TO  BONE  Jfc   particular   place. 

Begin  with  the  hinge  joint 

where  your  skull  is  joined  to  the  upper  end  bone  of  the 
spine.  This  allows  you  to  bend  your  head  up  and  down, 
and  nothing  more.  But  just  below,  between  the  next  two 
bones,  is  a  joint  of  another  sort.  This  allows  you  to  turn 
your  head  from  side  to  side.  Thanks  to  the  two  joints 
acting  as  one,  you  can  move  your  head  in  every  direction. 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 


49 


Whirl  your  arm  round  and  round  and  know  that  you 
are  using  the  most  movable  joint  in  the  entire  body.  It 
is  a  so-called  ball-and-socket  joint.  The  hip  is  supplied 
with  another  of  the  same  kind. 

When  we  think  of  the  work  which  the  hip  and  the 
knee  have  to   do   for  us,  and  of  the 
strain  we  are  ready  to  put  on  them  at 
any  moment,  we  understand  why  the 
hip  and  knee  joints  should  be  among 


HIP  JOINT  DRAWN  OPEN 

Notice  the  ligament  which  holds  the  ball  in 
its  socket 


BONES  AND  JOINTS 
OF  THE  LEG 


the  firmest  and  the  strongest  points  of  the  whole  body. 

The  knee  itself  is  a  wonderful  structure.    And  here 

we  have  an  admirable  chance  to  study  ligaments.    They 

are  firm  and  white  and  tough,  being  in  all  this  quite  like 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 


tendons.  Moreover,  when 
once  torn  they  are  as  slow 
to  heal  as  is  a  tendon. 
Ligaments  do  the  work 
of  holding  bones  to  each 
other,  whereas  tendons 
hold  muscles  to  bones. 

The  great   hinge  joint 
of   the    knee   is    supplied 
with  ligaments  which  al- 
low it  to  bend  one  way, 
^  but  which  absolutely  for- 

bid any  bending  in  an 
opposite  direction.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  stout 
ligaments  which 
hold  the  bones 

together   in   a   dejinite    relation,    our 

knees  would  bend  backwards  and  for-  \ 

wards  with   equal  ease,  and  walking    \ 

would  be  forever  out  of  the  question. 
Elbow  as  well  as  knee,  fingers  as 

well  as  toes,  —  all  act  on  the  plan  of 

the  hinge. 

Two  kinds  of  joints  are  thus  seen 

to  be  most  prominent  in  the  body  of     CuT  THROUGH  THK 

1  t     *  HINGE  JOINT  OF  THE 

man:  (i)  ball  and  socket;  (2)  hinge.  ELBOW 


THE  BACK  OF  THE  KNEE  JOINT 
(After  Schmidt) 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  JOINTS 


This  completes  the  outline  of  the  bony  and  muscular 
machinery  of  our  bodies.  We  have  seen  that  the  ends 
of  our  bones  are  shaped  to  meet  each  other,  that  they 


KNEE  JOINT  WHEN  STRAIGHT 

Notice  the  position  of  the  knee  pan 

(After  Schmidt) 


KNEE  JOINT  BENT  FAR  OVER 

Notice  the  ligaments  that  hold  the 
bones  together 

(After  Schmidt) 


are  carefully  fitted  together,  that  tough  ligaments  hold 
the  one  to  the  other,  and  that  muscles  end  in  tendons 
which  draw  the  bones  in  such  directions  as  the  joints 
allow. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED 

Various  public  schools  were  in  a  state  of  high  excite- 
ment during  the  spring  of  1905.  The  following  item  in 
the  New  York  Times  shows  the  reason  for  it : 

Schoolboy  athletes  are  to  hold  their  contests  on  the  roofs  of  the 
available  public  school  buildings  in  the  boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
Brooklyn.  .  .  .  Each  school  is  to  enter  five  boys  in  each  individual 
event,  and  two  teams  in  each  relay  race.  Medals  will  be  given  to  first, 
second,  and  third  in  each  event,  and  a  trophy  will  be  presented  to  the 
school  scoring  the  most  points. 

Boys  under  thirteen,  in  these  events,  competed  in  the 
potato  race,  the  standing  broad  jump,  and  the  relay  race 
for  teams  of  four  boys,  each  running  twice  across  the  roof. 
Boys  under  fifteen  had  the  same  potato  race,  with  running 
high  jump  instead  of  broad  jump ;  and  in  the  relay  race 
of  four  boys,  each  ran  four  times  instead  of  twice  across 
the  roof.  Boys  over  fifteen  did  other  things  in  addition. 

Throughout  the  spring  of  that  year,  wherever  New 
York  boys  could  find  a  roof  large  enough  or  a  space  of 
ground  unoccupied,  there  they  \vent  for  fun,  for  exercise, 
and  for  trophies.  But  the  doctors  of  the  city,  the  fathers, 
the  mothers,  and  the  teachers  believed  most  in  the  exercise. 

•  52 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED      53 

They  were  sure  that  through  it  city  boys  might  gain 
the  greatest  prize  of  all  —  good  health;  and  they  were 
more  anxious  to  have  the  city  turn  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  boys  and  girls  into  healthy,  well-developed, 
long-lived  men  and  women,  than  to  have  it  turn  out 
a  few  wonderful  athletes  who  should  outrun  and  out- 
jump  all  other  boys  in  all  other  cities  in  America. 


THE  START  AND  THE  FINISH  OF  THE  HUNDRED-YARD  RUN 

The  truth  is  that  never  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world  has  so  much  attention  been  paid  to  the  health  of 
children  as  in  this  twentieth  century;  for,  in  the  first 
place,  the  laws  of  health  are  better  understood  to-day 
than  ever  before,  and  further,  the  children  themselves 
are  learning  to  judge  what  is  best  for  the  body.  They 
already  know  scientific  facts  which  show  how  an  athlete 
may  increase  his  chance  for  success  or  diminish  it. 


54  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

This  accounts  for  the  self-denial  which  many  of  them 
practice.  They  have  learned  that  the  best  athletic  train- 
ers of  college  teams  and  of  professional  athletes  through- 
out the  country  strictly  forbid  their  men  to  use  tobacco 
in  any  form.  The  boys  also  know  that  the  reason  for 
this  is  the  fact  that  tobacco  so  affects  the  heart  as  to 
reduce  a  man's  ability  to  do  his  best  muscular  work. 


A  HIGH  JUMP  AT  NINE  CONSECUTIVE  MOMENTS 

To  do  his  best  his  heart  must  be  in  good  condition 

(After  Schmidt) 

Boys  have  learned  from  these  same  trainers  that  alco- 
hol is  strictly  forbidden  because  it  reduces  the  power 
of  the  muscles.  Being  keen  enough  to  see  that  that 
\vhich  helps  college  students  and  professional  athletes 
is  precisely  what  will  help  them,  the  most  determined 
of  these  boys  give  up  their  cigarettes  and  do  not  so 
much  as  begin  to  use  alcohol.  Multitudes  of  other 
boys  are,  of  course,  still  smoking  cigarettes,  but  in 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED 


55 


thousands  of  these  cases  ignorance  explains  their  wil- 
lingness to  do  it. 

Any  class  or  school  that  is  interested  in  making 
scientific  investigations  for  itself  might  appoint  a  com- 
mittee to  look  into  the  school  records  and  into  the  run- 
ning and.  jumping  records  of 
their  smoking  and  their  non- 
smoking classmates.  Inves- 
tigations of  this  kind  must 
be  carried  on  for  months, 
or  for  a  year  if  they  are  to 
prove  anything. 

As  a  rule,  at  the  end  of 
this  time  it  will  be  found 
that  those  boys  who  use  the 
most  cigarettes  are  doing 
the  poorest  work  both  in 
the  class  room  and  on  the 
athletic  field.  The  class  or 
the  school  that  wishes  to 
make  the  best  records  will 
therefore  be  forced  to  omit 


MUSCLES  TIGHTENED  FOR  THE  JUMP 
(After  Schmidt) 

from  among  its  contestants  all  those  who  use  cigarettes. 
It  will  decide  that  it  cannot  afford  to  reduce  its  chance 
for  winning  just  because  certain  boys  are  either  ignorant 
about  the  laws  of  the  body,  or  because  they  are  already 
victims  of  the  cigarette  habit. 


56  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Why  did  the  American  army  have  to  refuse  hun- 
dreds of  men  who  applied  and  who  were  ready  to  face 
death  for  the  sake  of  their  country?  In  a  large  number 
of  cases  it  was  because  these  men  had  a  certain  weak- 
ness of  the  heart  which  was  brought  on  by  tobacco,  and 
because,  when  a  man's  heart  is  troubled  in  this  particu- 
lar way,  he  is  not  likely  to  be  able  to  endure  the  exer- 
cise which  he  will  have  to  meet  as  a  soldier.  His  heart 
is  not  strong  enough  to  risk  it. 


A  RUNNING  BROAD  JUMP  FROM  ONE  FOOT 

It  shows  the  work  done  by  different  muscles  from  the  moment  the  man 
jumped  until  he  stood  on  his  feet  again 

(After  Schmidt) 

The  same  is  true  for  athletes  of  every  age  and  size  in 
whatever  land  they  may  be.  He  who  is  in  the  habit  of 
using  cigarettes  should  be  careful  how  he  ventures  to 
do  anything  that  will  call  for  sudden,  or  violent,  or  vig- 
orous use  of  his  muscles  and  his  heart.  Although  he 
may  still  be  able  to  run  as  fast  and  to  jump  as  high  as 
his  friend  or  his  schoolmate  who  does  not  smoke,  yet 
the  probability  is  that  he  has  the  sort  of  heart  that  the 
American  army  often  refuses  to  accept,  —  the  heart  that 
no  soldier  can  afford  to  own.  And  the  man  who  is 


THINGS  THAT  HINDER  STRENGTH  AND  SPEED      57 

afflicted  in  this  way  cannot  expect  to  do  his  best  on 
the  athletic  field. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  know  what  the 
leading  trainers  of  the  country  actually  say  about  it. 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Courtney  once  wrote  from  Cornell : 

I  have  found  in  my  experience  that  young  men  are  much  better  off, 

and  do  better  work,  without  alcoholic  stimulants  than  with  them,  and 

* 

they  are,  therefore,  absolutely  prohibited  in  our  training.  As  to  tobacco, 
I  believe  young  men  do  better  work  when  not  using  tobacco  than  when 
using  it,  and  it  is  prohibited  in  our  training  here  at  Cornell  University. 

In  1900  Mr.  Me  Bride,  captain  of  the  Yale  football 
team,  wrote: 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  a  college  or  school  athlete  who  is 
striving  to  win  a  place  on  any  team  to  have  endurance ;  especially  is 
this  true  in  rowing  and  football.  This  can  be  accomplished  to  the 
greatest  degree  only  by  abstaining  from  the  use  of  tobacco  and  alco- 
holic drinks  while  in  training  for  said  team. 

In  1901  Mr.  Edwards,  captain  of  the  Princeton 
football  team,  wrote: 

There  is  nothing  which  goes  to  make  a  better  athlete,  nothing 
which  gives  a  man  greater  power  of  endurance,  than  total  abstinence 
from  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  .  .  .  No  one  is  expected  to  use  tobacco. 
A  man  who  is  using  tobacco  and  alcohol  contrary  to  orders  during  the 
season  is  easily  detected,  and  is  dropped  from  the  squad. 

In  1906  Mr.  A.  A.  Stagg  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
wrote : 

We  have  never  had  a  really  successful  long-distance  runner  at  the 
University  of  Chicago  who  was  a  smoker,  and  several  of  our  men  who 


58  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

have  been  successful,  like  Lightbody,  are  most  abstemious  in  their 
training  and  do  not  smoke.  The  best  sprinters  and  middle-distance 
runners  we  have  had  have  also  been  men  who  were  very  particular 
about  their  training  for  several  months  of  the  year.  ...  In  football,  as 
in  other  endurance  tests,  there  is  no  question  at  all  in  my  mind  that 
the  man  who  smokes  does  not  come  up  to  the  level  of  the  general  run 
of  nonsmokers. 

In  1906  Mr.  Gianini  of  the  New  York  Athletic  Club 
wrote : 

My  opinion  is  expressed  best  by  stating  that  I  forbid  the  use  of 
tobacco  in  any  form  by  men  under  my  charge  while  training. 

The  Arctic  traveler,  Nansen,  was  asked  by  a  neigh- 
bor, "  Did  you  take  any  alcohol  with  you  when  you  left 
the  Fram  to  make  your  heroic  expedition  by  sledges  ? " 
"  No,"  said  Nansen,  "  for  if  I  had  done  so,  I  should  never 
have  returned." 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK 

Let  some  one  hold  a  watch  and  be  prepared  to  make 
reports  while  you  and  perhaps  your  friends  test  your- 
selves in  various  ways. 

Stand  with  your  finger 
on  your  pulse  at  the  wrist, 
and  let  him  who  holds  the 
watch  decide  when  the 
counting  is  to  begin.  He 
will  say,  "Get  ready — now 
—  begin."  When  he  says 
that  last  word  each  child 
should,  for  himself,  start  to 
count  the  regular  throb  of 
the  pulse  which  he  feels 
under  his  finger.  Let  him 
keep  on  counting  until,  at 
the  end  of  one  minute,  the 
timekeeper  says,  "Stop."  You  will  then  have  your  record. 

If  you  are  not  excited,  if  you  have  not  been  exercising 
hard  beforehand,  if  you  have  made  no  mistake  in  your 
counting,  the  number  of  beats  which  you  feel  will  show 

59 


COUNTING  THE  PULSE  BEAT 


6o 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


what  your  regular  everyday  pulse  beat  is.  This  is  an  im- 
portant point  gained.  You  have  secured  your  standard  for 
the  standing  position.  You  are  ready  for  the  next  test. 

Stand  perfectly  still,  and,  while  the  timekeeper  follows 
the  time  again,  open  and  shut  your  hand  as  fast  and  as 

hard  as  you  can  for  an  entire 
minute.  Then  once  more  count 
your  pulse.  You  may  find  that 
it  has  gained  a  trifle.  This  will 
depend  on  the  vigor  with  which 
you  have  worked  the  muscles  of 
your  hand.  In  any  case,  how- 
ever, the  muscles  there  are  small 
and  you  will  not  get  much  of 
a  result  in  the  way  of  a  more 
rapid  beat. 

Turn,    therefore,    to  the    leg 
muscles  of  the  body.   Use  them 
HE  COUNTS  BOTH  PULSE  BEAT   vigorously.    Let  each  child  run 

AND  HEART  BEAT  ....         .         .  111 

up  one  night  or  stairs  and  back, 

and  at  once  count  the  pulse  again.  You  will  find  a 
marked  change.  From  eighty  or  over  at  the  start,  you 
have  probably  increased  the  count  by  one  half  or  more. 
In  addition  to  the  above  tests  make  one  more.  Even 
while  the  fingers  of  your  left  hand  are  feeling  the  pulse 
in  your  right  wrist,  place  your  right  hand  over  your 
heart.  You  will  discover  that  the  pulse  beat  and  the 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK  6 1 

heart  beat  occur  at  the  same  instant.  And  now,  if  you 
were  not  uncomfortably  out  of  breath  after  the  run  up 
one  flight,  try  two  flights  for  a  second  test  and  notice 
that  the  number  of  beats  has  increased  both  at  the  wrist 
and  at  the  heart.  You  have  proved  for  yourself  that  the 
pulse  beat  may  be  depended  on  to  show  what  the  rate 
of  the  heart  beat  is. 

The  following  table  shows  what  such  exercise  did  for  a 
small  class  of  children  in  a  New  York  school.  The  letters 
of  the  alphabet  stand  for  the  names  of  the  children. 

TESTS  SHOWING  EFFECTS  OF  EXERCISE  ON  THE 
HEART  BEAT  PER  MINUTE 

Normal  After  Short, 

Pulse  Quick  Run 

A 85 130 

B ..  83  .......  142 

C 71 113 

D 85 95 

E 85 113 

F 88 120 

G 83  .......  95 

H 84 87 

I 90 114 

J 98 130 

K 85 .  94 

L 85 no 

M 83 104 

N 87 115 

Each  child  was  tested  again  within  a  minute  after  the 
run,  and  already  the  pulse  was  found  to  be  beating  more 


62  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

slowly.  This  rapid  return  to  the  normal  beat  is  the  sign 
of  a  healthy  heart 

At  different  times,  on  different  days,  test  yourself  in 
other  ways.  Count  your  pulse  when  you  get  up  rested 
in  the  morning  and  when  you  go  to  bed  tired  at  night. 
Count  it  before  and  after  your  cold  bath  in  the  morning. 
Count  it  before  and  after  any  variety  of  exercise  that  in- 
terests you.  For  example,  run  to  school  one  morning, 
walk  to  school  another  morning,  and  compare  the  results 
of  both  with  your  standard.  Compare  the  number  of 
beats  of  the  heart  that  has  done  hard  work  with  those 
of  the  heart  that  has  done  light  work,  and  learn  to  know 
what  gives  your  heart  the  most  exercise.  Knowledge  in 
this  line  will  serve  you  well  in  deciding  how  to  do  the 
most  for  yourself  in  the  shortest  space  of  time.  What 
you  learn  now  will  be  applied  in  a  later  chapter. 

It  would  be  quite  worth  while  to  keep  your  different 
records  written  down  in  a  notebook  of  some  sort  for 
future  reference.  Already,  however,  you  have  learned 
that  exercise  makes  the  heart  beat  faster,  and  that  the 
larger  the  muscles  are,  and  the  harder  the  work  you 
give  them  to  do,  —  running,  for  example,  —  the  more 
exercise  will  you  give  the  heart.  You  have  also  learned 
that  the  pulse  may  always  be  trusted  to  tell  important 
facts  about  the  action  of  the  heart. 

It  is  for  this  last  reason  that  a  doctor  feels  the  pulse 
of  his  patient.  By  the  regular  or  the  irregular  beat  of 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK 


that  pulse,  by  the  way  it  hurries  and  by  the  way  it 
drags,  he  is  guided  in  his  judgment  as  to  what  the  con- 
dition of  the  patient  is,  and  what  ought  to  be  done  to 
help  him.  The  heart,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  vital  centers 
of  our  activities.  We  are 
well  or  ill,  we  live  or  die, 
through  the  work  which 
it  does  or  fails  to  do.  Yet 
the  ignorant  are  often 
misled  by  its  action. 
Many  frail  women  fear 
to  take  exercise  lest  they 
overtax  the  heart. 

This,  then,  is  one -ex- 
treme to  which  a  person 
may  go.  On  the  other 
hand  we  have  the  bicycle 
rider  who  overtaxes  his 
heart  so  persistently  as 
to  injure  it  for  life,  and 
the  boys  who  run  long 
or  hard  races  before  their 
hearts  have  been  trained  for  such  violent  exercise. 

It  seems  that  the  heart  is  a  strong,  hollow  muscle, 
about  as  large  as  the  fist  of  the  one  for  whom  it  works ; 
and  that  even  when  it  is  not  put  under  extra  pressure  it 
does  more  work  than  any  other  muscle  in  the  body.  It 


THE  HEART  AND  ITS  GREAT 
BLOOD  VESSELS 

We  are  well  or  ill,  we  live  or  die,  by  the 
work  it  does  or  fails  to  do 


64 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


lies  under  the  ribs,  between  the  two  halves  of  the  lungs, 
and  keeps  up  its  beating  from  birth  to  death.  It  does, 
indeed,  take  more  exercise  than  any  other  muscle ;  never- 
theless, like  every  other  muscle,  additional  exercise  gives 
it  strength,  while  lack  of  additional  exercise  leaves  it  weak. 

In  training  this  important 
muscle  we  must  remember 
that  most  human  beings  have 
sound  hearts  that  need  to  be 
treated  in  a  reasonable  way. 
A  neighbor  of  ours  had 
taken  no  special  exercise  all 
winter,  but  when  spring 
came  he  began  abruptly  by 
playing  one  set  of  tennis 
after  another,  without  resting 
between  the  different  sets. 
The  end  of  it  was  that  for 
many  days  and  nights  his 
heart  kept  up  a  rapid  beat- 
ing. For  three  weeks,  indeed,  it  refused  to  come  down 
to  normal,  and  during  this  time  the  man  dared  take  no 
exercise.  He  knew  it  would  be  unsafe. 

If  he  had  been  careful  to  begin  his  tennis  playing 
gradually  that  spring,  increasing  the  amount  from  day  to 
day,  he  would  have  done  better  work,  would  have  spared 
his  heart  the  overstrain,  and  would  have  saved  himself 


THE  CHAMPION   PLAYER  AT  A 
CRITICAL  MOMENT 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK  65 

those  weeks  of  time  when  he  could  take  no  vigorous 
exercise  whatever. 

Watch  those  who  race  to  catch  a  train  or  a  car.  By 
the  way  they  breathe  you  may  know  what  the  heart 
is  doing.  You  will  also  be  able  to  tell  which  of  the 
running  men  and  women  have  trained  their  hearts  for 
sudden  sprints  of  violent  work  and  which  are  pressing 
untrained  hearts  into  unusual  service.  College  students 
often  run  by  the  mile  across  the  town  and  out  into 
the  country.  They  are  training  not  only  the  many 
muscles  of  their  legs  but  also  the  one  muscle  of  the 
heart  and  their  breathing  apparatus.  They  wish  to  train 
their  leg  muscles,  while  at  the  same  time  they  secure  for 
themselves  hearts  and  lungs  that  will  be  useful  as  long 
as  their  legs  are  able  to  keep  up  the  running. 

A  doctor  whom  I  know  speaks  of  a  man  whom  he 
himself  trained.  He  says  : 

When  I  took  charge  Q£  him  the  man  could  not  run  as  far  as  from 
here  to  the  door  without  fainting.  He  simply  had  a  muscularly  weak 
heart,  excited  by  nervous  shock  and  overwork,  worry,  deficient  nutri- 
tion, and  lack  of  sleep.  I  first  discovered  that  there  was  no  organic 
disease.  Nothing  but  plain  building  up  of  muscle  was  needed.  Then 
I  went  to  work  and  started  to  build  up  that  muscle.  I  would  have  him 
run  a  few  steps  and  then  lie  down  three  minutes,  then  run  a  few  steps 
more  and  lie  down.  I  stood  by,  keeping  track  of  his  heart,  not  allow- 
ing him  to  do  enough  work  to  send  it  above  one  hundred  and  not  letting 
him  run  again  until  it  got  back  to  normal.  I  kept  him  at  it  half  an 
hour  three  times  a  day,  from  day  to  day  increasing  the  doses  ;  that  is, 


66  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

I  stuck  to  the  medicine,  but  I  gave  very  small  doses,  —  doses  suited  to 
the  strength  of  heart  he  then  had.  In  three  months  that  man  could  run 
eight  miles  an  hour  with  great  ease  and  comfort.  Since  then  he  has 
not  known  that  he  has  a  heart. 

This  doctor  also  speaks  of  a  friend  of  his  who  ran  up 
eight  flights  of  stairs  because  of  a  fire,  and  so  over- 
strained his  heart  that  it  has  never  been  right  since. 

The  point  of  all  this  is  that  when  the  heart  has  done 
what  it  comfortably  can,  and  then  has  to  do  still  more 
work  and  keep  it  up,  it  stretches  too  much  for  its  own 
good.  And  worse  still,  if  it  is  stretched  badly  enough 
it  stays  stretched.  This  is  part  of  the  trouble  with  the 
overworked  heart  of  the  bicycle  rider.  Athletic  trainers 
understand  these  facts  thoroughly.  It  is  therefore  as 
much  for  the  sake  of  the  muscle  of  the  heart  as  for  the 
benefit  of  leg  muscles  that  they  insist  that  only  those 
who  have  been  trained  for  the  contests  shall  be  allowed 
to  compete  in  athletic  games.  Otherwise  the  untrained 
person  might  faint  in  the  midst  of  the  sport,  and  this  is 
not  only  harmful  to  himself  but  quite  as  unpleasant  for 
those  who  are  watching  the  contest. 

The  safe  rule,  is  to  give  the  heart  all  the  exercise  it 
can  comfortably  take  at  one  time,  and  to  increase  the 
amount  as  fast  as  its  power  increases. 

As  a  rule,  the  actual  size  of  the  normal  heart  is  pro- 
portioned to  the  work  it  has  had  to  do.  Animals  kept  in 
cages  and  captivity  have  been  examined  after  death  and 


THE  HEART  WHEN  IT  IS  AT  WORK  67 

their  hearts  have  been  seen  to  be  smaller  than  the  aver- 
age heart  of  wild  animals  of  the  same  species.  In  pro- 
portion to  his  size  the  heart  of  a  stag  is  about  twice  as 
large  as  that  of  a  pig.  The  reason  is  plain.  The  stag 
lives  by  exercise  which  makes  the  heart  work;  the  pig, 
excepting  in  the  wild  state  or  in  pasture,  seldom  indulges 
in  any  unusual  exercise. 

Provided  the  matter  is  not  overdone,  nothing  is  better 
for  heart  development  than  exercise  which  calls  for  en- 
durance. A  quick  run  for  a  minute,  or  a  good  jog  trot 
lasting  five  minutes,  is  as  good  as  anything  that  can  be 
devised.  Run  as  you  go  to  school  in  the  morning;  run 
on  the  way  home  at  night.  At  each  time  run  a  little, 
then  walk  a  little.  Run  only  so  much  as  you  can 
quickly  recover  from.  Indulge  when  you  can  in  a  good 
outdoor  game.  By  your  pulse  beat  and  by  the  way  you 
keep  your  breath  or  lose  it  you  will  know  what  you 
may  do.  It  is  much  better  to  begin  with  too  little  exer- 
cise than  with  too  much,  for  you  are  going  to  make 
steady  gain  whatever  your  starting  point  is;  and  you 
gain  most  by  going  moderately  at  first. 

Throughout  his  entire  life  he  who  has  a  well-devel- 
oped heart  will  also  have  more  vigor,  more  power  to 
endure,  more  courage  than  he  otherwise  would  have. 


CHAPTER  X 

DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GREEK  AND  BY  AN  ENGLISHMAN 

Galen,  the  Greek,  was  born  in  the  year  30  A.D.  He 
made  discoveries  about  the  body,  practiced  medicine 
in  Rome,  and  for  fourteen  hundred  years  afterwards 
what  he  had  believed  and  written  about  the  body  of  man 
was  taught  in  every  school  of  medicine  in  Europe. 

This  domination  continued  until  William  Harvey,  an 
Englishman,  made  his  discoveries.  In  1616  we  find  him 
lecturing  in  London.  He  was  thirty-eight  years  old 
at  the  time.  When  he  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine, 
he  had  added  such  a  volume  of  scientific  facts  to  those 
which  Galen  had  discovered,  that  during  the  three  hun- 
dred years  since  then  the  two  names  have  stood  side  by 
side  on  the  honored  roll  of  those  who  have  transformed 
the  beliefs  of  the  human  race. 

Naturally,  of  course,  Harvey  began  his  work  where 
Galen  and  his  successors  left  off.  He  built  on  foun- 
dations which  Galen  had  laid,  but  he  was  as  inde- 
pendent of  past  beliefs  as  Galen  himself  had  been. 
Whenever  he  had  the  opportunity,  whether  with  men 
or  animals,  whether  with  those  that  were  well  or  ill, 

68 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      69* 

alive  or  dead,  he  studied  their  bodies  and  gave  special 
attention  to  the  action  of  the  heart  and  to  any  connec- 
tion which  it  might  have  with  the  blood  supply. 

In  the  case  of  wounded  animals,  at  different  times  he 
laid  his  hand  on  the  heart  and  noticed  that  with  each 
throb  the  blood  left  the  wound  with  a  spurt,  and  he 
saw  that  blood  which  spurted  in  jets  from  a  wound  was 
always  of  the  bright  red  kind. 

Then  too  he  came  across  wounds  that  bled  in  a  dif- 
ferent way.  With  them  the  blood  simply  poured  out  in 
a  quiet,  dark-purplish  stream.  In  such  cases  there  was 
no  sudden  increase  of  flow  with  the  heart  beat.  He 
found  that  the  same  was  true  for  wounds  in  man  and 
beast  alike ;  that  is,  bright  blood  came  in  jets  while  dark 
blood  came  in  a  quiet  stream.  Moreover,  he  saw  that  it 
was  always  true  that  when  the  heart  beat  slowly  the 
pulse  at  the  wrist  was  slow  too. 

These  important  observations,  added  to  many  experi- 
ments which  he  himself  made,  drew  Harvey's  thoughts 
more  and  more  to  questions  about  circulation.  It  then 
occurred  to  him  that  the  heart  might  be  a  special  ma- 
chine for  pumping  bright-colored  blood  out  into  the 
arteries,  and  the  thought  of  such  a  possibility  was  ex- 
citing even  to  himself. 

Through  yet  other  experiments  and  constant  thought 
on  the  subject,  his  suspicions  gradually  changed  to  con- 
victions. He  became  very  sure  that  every  pulse  beat  in 


70  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

the  artery  at  the  wrist  means  that  the  heart  has  pumped 
a  fresh  supply  of  blood  into  the  large  artery,  the  aorta, 
which  is  joined  directly  to  it,  and  that  the  elastic 
tubes  have  expanded  throughout  their  entire  length  to 
make  room  for  it.  He  knew,  as  we  do,  that  the  largest 
arteries  are  buried  deeper  in  the  body  than  the  veins, 
and  that  only  at  certain  spots  do  they  come  near 
enough  to  the  surface  to  allow  us  to  feel  the  effect  of 
the  heart  beat.  He  noticed  that  there  is  never  any 
throb  in  a  vein,  and  this  strengthened  his  conviction 
that  no  vein  ever  receives  blood  directly  from  the 
throbbing  heart. 

By  traveling  the  road  which  he  took  we  have  come 
upon  Harvey's  first  great  discovery: 

The  heart  pumps  blood  into  the  arteries. 

The  scientific  world  was  even  more  excited  over  this 
announcement  than  it  had  been  over  Galen's  discovery. 
But  Harvey  himself  went  quietly  on  with  his  investiga- 
tions. He  saw  that  the  heart  pumps  by  contracting  and 
expanding;  that  the  average  human  body  holds  about 
six  quarts  of  blood;  that  the  heart  sends  about  half  a 
tumblerful  of  blood  into  the  aorta  every  time  it  contracts ; 
and  that,  since  the  heart  beats  about  seventy  times  a 
minute,  an  enormous  quantity  of  blood  must  be  squeezed 
out  of  it  during  each  half  hour. 

He  did  some  multiplying,  as  we  ourselves  might  do 
just  here,  and  decided  that  if  the  heart  sends  out  over 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN 


one  thousand  tumblerfuls  of  blood  every  hour,  and  if 
the  body  holds  no  more  than  twenty-four  tumblerfuls,  — 
that  is,  six  quarts,  —  the  enormous  supply  must  be  ex- 
plained somehow.  Where  did  it  all  come  from?  This 
was  Harvey's  next  great  problem. 

One  sign  after  another  led  him  to  suspect  that  the 
veins  might  hold  the  explanation.  He  therefore  tested 
veins  and  arteries  too, 
as  we  ourselves  may  do. 

Draw  up  your  sleeve", 
swing  your  arm  round 
your  head  once  or  twice, 
let  it  hang  by  your  side 


POCKET  VALVES  IN  THE  VEINS 

A  shows  a  vein  slit  lengthwise  and  laid  open; 

B   shows    a  vein  cut    through    lengthwise ; 

C  shows  how  a  vein  looks  from  the  outside 

when  its  valves  are  filled  with  blood 


for  a  minute,   and  you 
will  notice  that  some  of 

the  blood  Vessels  appear 

... 
as  dark   ImeS   Under  the 

skin.  Stroke  these  lines 
down  towards  the  wrist.  They  are  veins,  and  the  little 
bunches  which  stand  out  show  where  the  valves  have 
caught  the  blood.  Remember  that  these  valves  are  on 
the  inside  lining  of  every  vein,  and  that  they  always 
open  towards  the  heart.  During  the  time,  then,  that  the 
blood  in  the  veins  flows  steadily  towards  the  heart,  the 
valves  lie  flat  and  smooth  against  the  lining  and  you 
would  not  suspect  their  presence.  But  try  to  drive  that 
blood  away  from  the  heart,  and  quickly  every  valve  is  so 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


filled  that  it  stands  out  like  a  little  pouch  and  helps 
block  the  passage  of  the  blood  backwards.  The  nature 
of  the  veins,  therefore,  helped  Harvey  on  towards  his 
next  discovery. 

While    your   left   arm    is  still   uncovered,  press   and 
squeeze  it  with  your  right  hand,  stroking  towards  the 

elbow  to  hasten  the  blood  out  of 
the  veins.  Now,  as  quickly  as  you 
can,  tie  a  firm  bandage  about  the 
arm  just  above  the  elbow.  Tie 
this  bandage  as  tight  as  you 
can  without  giving  yourself  pain. 
Within  a  few  seconds  notice  how 
you  feel,  and  notice  the  color  of 
your  hand.  It  remains  pale  and 
it  grows  cold. 

Arteries  are  buried  deep,  veins 
are  near  the  surface.  Your  band- 
age is  therefore  checking  the  flow 
in  both  sets  of  blood  vessels ;  and 
because  no  blood  can  get  into  the 

As  the  stick  is  turned  the  band- 
arm,  the  color  of  it  stays  about 

as  when  you  tied  the  bandage. 
Above  the  elbow,  however,  you  feel  a  throbbing,  because 
the  blood  in  the  arteries  is  held  back  by  the  dam  of  the 
bandage.  Loosen  this  bandage  a  little.  You  have  now 
lifted  the  pressure  from  the  arteries,  and  blood  hurries 


A  HANDKERCHIEF  AND  A  STICK 

TO  COMPRESS  AN  ARTERY 


age  is  pulled  tighter 
(After  Tracy) 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      73 

towards  the  hand.  But  the  veins  are  under  pressure  still ; 
notice  what  is  happening.  Blood  is  entering  through  the 
arteries;  it  cannot  escape  through  the  veins  because  of 
the  pressure  of  the  bandage.  As  a  result  the  hand  grows 
red  and  swollen  from  its  unusual  supply.  Release  the 
bandage  entirely,  and  in  al- 
most no  time  those  veins  have 
relieved  themselves.  Blood  is 
once  more  streaming  upwards. 

Such  experiments  as  these 
and  others  led  Harvey  to  his 
second  announcement.  He 
declared  to  his  astonished 
friends  that: 

The  heart  receives  its  entire 
blood  supply  from  the  veins. 

To  complete  this  account, 

,11  -1    A,  vein  that  brings  blood  to  the  auricle: 

turn    tO    the    heart    again    and    ^  auricle;   C,  valves  that  are  forced 

remember  the  following  facts  °Pen  by  the  blood  as  u  Passes  into 

.  the  ventricle ;  /?,  ventricle ;  E,  tube 

clDOUt  it  \  through  which  blood  goes  to  the  lungs 

1.  The  heart  is  a  pow-  to  be  purified 

erful  muscle.    It  does,  its  work  by  contracting  and 
relaxing. 

2.  The  heart   is  made   up   of   two  halves;    and 
the  wall  of  muscle  between  these  separate  halves 
is  so   firmly  closed  that  after  birth,  and  after  the 
heart   is   in   good  working   order,   not   a   drop   of 


THE  RIGHT  AURICLE  AND 
VENTRICLE 


74 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


blood    ever   passes    through   it    from    one    side    to 
the  other. 

3.  Each  half  of  the  heart  has  two  divisions,  the 
smaller  called  the  auricle,  the  larger  called  the 
ventricle. 


TWO    VIEWS    OF   THE    SAME   VENTRICLE   TO    SHOW   THE   VALVES 

On  the  left  blood  enters ;  on  the  right  the  ventricle  contracts 
and  forces  the  blood  onward 

4.  Each  auricle  and  each  ventricle  has  its  own 
opening,  its  own  tube  for  blood,  and  its  own  valves 
to  prevent  the  blood  from  running  the  wrong  way. 

5.  The  auricle  in  each  half  of  the  heart  always  re- 
ceives the  blood  and  sends  it  into  its  own  ventricle. 

6.  Each  ventricle  receives  blood   from    its  own 
auricle  and  sends  it  off  to  its  own  district  of  the 
body. 

At  this  point  we  reach  a  most  interesting  fact  about 
this  process  of  circulation ;  yet  it  may  be  given  in  a  few 


DISCOVERIES  BY  A  GRECIAN  AND  AN  ENGLISHMAN      75 

easy  words.    One  side  of  the  heart  receives  blood  from 

the  body  and  sends  it  to  the  lungs ;  the  other  side  of  the 

heart   receives    blood  from 

the  lungs  and  sends  it  to  the 

body.   We  see,  then,  that  one 

side  always  deals  with  pure 

blood  alone,  for  all  that  comes 

to  it  is  fresh  from  the  lungs 

and  is  sent  onward  in  the  same 

condition;  while  the  other  side 

deals  with  impure  blood  alone, 

for  all   that  comes  to  it  is 

from  the  body  after  it  has  been 

used,  and  it  goes  onward  to 

the  lungs  in  that  condition  to 

be  purified. 

Thus  the  entire  blood 
supply  of  the  body,  on  each 
journey  round,  passes  through 
both  sides  of  the  heart  and 
through  the  lungs  before  it 
goes  back  to  nourish  the  body. 
This  was  Harvey's  great  dis- 
covery about  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  Even  for 
him,  however,  there  was  a  mystery  which  the  microscope 
alone  could  solve.  The  next  chapter  will  speak  about  it. 


THE  FOUR  CAVITIES  OF  THE 
HEART 

A,  auricle  ;  B,  ventricle  ;   C,  outline 
of  the  heart ;  /?,/>,  blood  vessels 

The  dark  side  receives  impure  blood 
from  the  body  and  sends  it  to  the 
lungs;  the  light  side  receives  pure 
blood  from  the  lungs  and  sends  it 
to  the  body 


CHAPTER  XI 

TO  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND  BACK 

To  complete  the  proof  about  blood  which  makes  its 
regular  journey  from  the  heart  round  the  body  and  back 
again,  scientists  have  the  testimony  of  the  blood  itself. 
They  have  taken  a  syringe  as  slender  as  a  needle,  and  by 
its  use  have  pricked  some  harmless  chemical  into  a  vein 
on  one  side  of  the  body  of  a  horse  or  of  a  man.  They 
have  then  examined  blood  drop  by  drop  from  the  cor- 
responding vein  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  body  until 
the  same  chemical  has  appeared  there. 

By  comparing  the  time  when  the  substance  was  put 
in,  with  the  time  when  they  find  it  again,  they  know  how 
long  it  takes  for  blood  to  make  the  entire  circuit  of  the 
body.  The  following  table  gives  results : 

For  a  horse,  twenty-five  seconds. 
For  a  full-grown  man,  twenty- three  seconds. 
For  a  child  of  fourteen,  eighteen  seconds. 
For  a  child  of  three,  fifteen  seconds. 

Evidently  each  set  of  tubes  and  each  heart  does  its 
work  more  or  less  rapidly,  according  to  the  distance 
which  the  blood  has  to  travel.  But  for  each  one  of  us 

the  road  which  the  blood  takes  is  ever  the  same.    The 

76 


VEINS  AND  ARTERIES 

Black  tubes  represent  veins  through  which  impure  blood  goes  to  the  right  side 

of  the  heart  from  all  parts  of  the  body ;  light-colored  tubes  represent  arteries 

through  which  pure  blood  from  the  left  side  of  the  heart  goes  to  all  parts  of 

the  body.    Notice  that  the  large  tubes  of  each  kind  lie  near  one  another 

77 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


steps  of  its  progress  are  veins,  heart,  lungs,  heart,  arteries, 
veins.  When  the  chemical  is  found  it  is  on  its  return 
trip  to  the  heart. 

Even  this  experiment  does  not,  however,  show  how 
the   blood   gets  across  from   the  arteries  to  the  veins 

for  its  journey  back. 
Harvey  himself  was 
not  sure  about  this, 
for  he  had  no  micro- 
scope. But  when  the 
microscope  came  with 
its  revelations,  doubts 
and  questions  were 
cleared  a  way.  Instead 
of  blood  spread  about 
everywhere  among 
the  muscles  under  the 
skin  between  the  ar- 

UNION  OF  ARTERIES  AND  VEINS  teries  and  the  veins, 

there  was  found  to  be 
no  blood  anywhere 
outside  of  the  tubes.  Moreover,  each  drop  of  blood  was 
found  to  be  a  part  of  the  ceaseless  stream  which  flows 
through  tubes  that  divide  and  subdivide  until  they  are 
too  small  for  the  unaided  eye  to  see,  then  unite  and 
continue  to  unite  until  they  are  again  large  enough  to 
be  seen. 


artery;  z/,  vein.     A  network  of  capillaries 
joins  them 


TO  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND   BACK  79 

From  the  heart  and  back  again,  all  the  blood  of  the 
body  is  seen  to  be  closely  inclosed  in  these  larger  and 
smaller  tubes.  This  is  what  the  microscope  shows.  And 
the  sight  of  its  progress  through  the  tubes  must  have 
thrilled  those  who  watched  it  for  the  first  time. 

One  early  scientist  used  his  crude  microscope  on  the 
tail  of  a  tadpole.  He  had  already  discovered  the  corpus- 
cles of  the  blood,  which  we  shall  study  soon;  and  he 
saw  these  separate  "  blood  globules,"  as  he  called  them, 
moving  after  each  other  in  single  file  through  the  nar- 
rowest of  the  tubes.  Sometimes  they  moved  in  faster, 
sometimes  in  slower,  procession';  and  sometimes  they 
were  even  bent  over  and  pressed  out  of  shape  as  they 
were  forced  through  the  narrowest  places.  He  grew 
enthusiastic  over  what  he  saw,  and  wrote  a  glowing 
account  of  it  over  two  hundred  years  ago: 

The  motion  of  the  blood  in  these  tadpoles  exceeds  all  the  rest  of 
small  animals  and  fish  I  have  ever  seen  ;  nay.  this  pleasure  has  ofttimes 
been  so  recreating  to  me  that  I  do  not  believe  that  all  the  pleasures  of 
fountains  and  waterworks,  either  natural  or  made  by  art,  could  have 
pleased  my  sight  so  well.  And  now  at  last  I  spied  a  small  artery,  that 
notwithstanding  it  is  so  small  that,  I  judge,  but  one  small  red  globule 
of  blood  could  pass  through  it,  ...  yet,  what  was  most  remarkable 
was  to  see  the  manifold  small  arteries  that  came  forth  from  the  great 
one,  and  which  were  spread  into  several  branches,  and  turning,  came 
into  one  again,  and  were  reunited,  that  at  last  they  did  pour  out  the 
blood  again  into  the  great  vein ;  this  last  was  a  sight  that  would  amaze 
any  eye  that  was  greedy  of  knowledge. 


8o 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


From  what  he  saw,  and  from  what  the  microscope 
may  show  us,  too,  we  find  it  easy  to  understand  that 
every  slash  and  wound  of  the  body  cuts  through  a  mesh 
of  lace  work  more  delicate  than  the  finest  lace  ever  made 
by  the  hand  of  man  ;  we  see  that  each  thread  of  this  lace 
is  a  tube  doing  faithful  duty  in  carrying  blood  to  remote 
regions  of  the  body,  and  that  everywhere  there  is  blood 
simply  because  everywhere  there  is  the  same  intricate 

interlacing  of  these  marvelous 
tubes.  Their  name  capillary 
means  "  hairlike."  Yet  the  mi- 
croscope shows  how  much 
smaller  they  sometimes  are 
than  any  human  hair,  however 
soft  and  fine. 

By  careful  calculation  it  has 
been  found  that  fifteen  hun- 
dred capillaries  would  have  to  be  laid  side  by  side  to 
cover  a  surface  an  inch  wide. 

As  a  rule,  the  amount  of  blood  which  is  inclosed  in 
this  system  of  tubes  which  includes  heart,  arteries,  capil- 
laries, and  veins,  is  about  one  thirteenth  the  weight  of 
the  person.  We  may  then  calculate  our  own  supply  of 
blood  by  our  own  weight. 

So  much  blood  does  it  take  to  keep  the  blood  vessels 
and  the  heart  as  full  as  they  need  to  be.  The  truth, 
however,  is  that  being  elastic  they  could  at  any  time 


CORPUSCLES  IN  THE  CAPILLARIES 
OF  A  FROG'S  FOOT 


THE  HEART  WITH  ITS  SYSTEM  OF  TUBES 

Arrows  show  the  direction  in  which  the  blood  flows.    Follow  its  course  from  the 

body  into  the  right  side  of  the  heart ;  from  there  to  the  lungs ;  thence  to  the  left 

side  of  the  heart  and  out  to  the  body  again.    Each  cluster  of  tubes  shows  in  a 

rough  way  where  some  organ  of  the  body  is  located 

81 


82  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

hold  more  than  is  now  in  them ;  and  that  at  any  time 
also  they  could  get  along  very  well  with  rather  less  than 
they  now  carry. 

In  former  times  men  sometimes  died  for  no  other  rea- 
son than  that  they  lost  so  much  blood  from  wounds  of 
one  sort  or  another  that  the  sides  of  veins  and  capil- 
laries collapsed,  and  the  heart  had  to  stop  work  because 
there  was  too  little  blood  left  in  the  body  to  be  pumped 
round.  It  was  therefore  a  great  discovery  when  men 
found  that  the  heart  is  quite  as  willing  to  pump  warm 
salt  water  out  into  arteries  and  capillaries  as  to  send 
warm  blood  to  the  same  places.  Nowadays,  therefore, 
when  a  man  is  losing  much  blood  through  an  operation 
or  through  an  accidental  wound,  a  surgeon,  working  as 
fast  as  he  can,  pumps  salt  water  into  the  veins  to  replace 
the  blood.  This  water  is  carried  on  round  the  circuit  as 
swiftly  as  if  it  were  the  richest  blood,  the  pumping  of  the 
heart  continues,  and  a  life  is  saved. 

No  one  dreams  for  a  moment  that  salt  water  can  take 
the  place  of  blood  day  in  and  day  out  for  many  days 
continuously,  but  all  know  that  it  may  be  depended  on 
for  a  season.  It  keeps  the  veins  filled  and  the  heart  in 
action  while  the  proper  sort  of  blood  is  being  manufac- 
tured by  the  body  itself. 

In  a  way  we  might  suppose  that,  whether  water  is 
mixed  with  it  or  not,  the  blood  of  the  body  is  spread  out 
in  equal  quantities  everywhere,  being  regulated  by  the 


TO  THE  CAPILLARIES  AND  BACK  83 

size  of  the  tubes  which  carry  it  here  and  there.  The 
truth  is,  however,  that  standing  over  the  blood  supply  is 
the  never-failing  fact  that  exercise  regulates  the  amount 
which  goes  here  and  there;  that  is,  what  we  do  always 
settles  the  question  as  to  where  the  blood  shall  go.  For 
the  normal,  healthy  person  this  law  never  varies.  It 
may  be  stated  in  a  few  words :  That  part  of  the  body 
which  is  exercised  the  most  gets  the  most  blood;  that  part 
which  is  exercised  the  least  gets  the.  least  blood. 

The  next  chapter  will  show  what  it  means  to  the  body 
when  this  law  is  remembered  or  forgotten,  and  what  the 
nature  of  the  blood  is,  that  it  should  be  so  greatly  needed 
here  and  there. 


CHAPTER  XII 

BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES 

When  you  take  your  morning  bath  why  do  you  use 
cold  water,  a  rough  wash  cloth,  and  a  towel  rougher  yet  ? 
Why  do  you  work  fast  and  rub  hard?  For  the  simple 
reason  that  you  wish  to  draw  more  blood  to  your  skin 
capillaries,  and  the  pink  color  shows  how  well  you  have 
succeeded. 

I  have  a  frail  friend  with  blood  vessels  so  lifeless  that 
her  skin  is  about  as  pale  after  exercise  as  before  it.  The 
other  day,  however,  she  felt  encouraged.  "An  unusual 
thing  happened  this  morning, "  she  said  ;  "  I  managed  to 
get  some  color  into  my  chest  when  I  rubbed  it.  I  have  n't 
been  able  to  do  that  before  for  years."  She  knew  that 
active  movement  of  the  blood  through  the  blood  vessels 
is  one  of  the  important  advantages  of  exercise.  To  under- 
stand this  more  definitely,  examine  the  blood  itself.  Drops 
drawn  from  your  own  body  will  meet  the  need  perfectly. 
To  secure  them,  tie  a  string  round  the  last  joint  of  a  fin- 
ger on  your  left  hand.  This  leaves  your  right  hand  free 
for  whatever  it  needs  to  do.  Bend  the  tied  finger  over 
to  increase  the  pressure  of  the  blood  in  its  capillaries. 
Take  the  finest  needle  you  have,  hold  it  in  a  candle  or  a 

84 


BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES  85 

lamp  flame  for  a  moment  to  rid  it  of  microbes,  then  stick 
the  point  of  it  quickly  into  the  dark  red  end  of  the  finger. 
So  much  blood  has  been  held  back  that  you  will  barely 
feel  the  prick.  Nevertheless,  a  good-sized  drop  will  ooze 
through  and  be  ready  for  immediate  use. 

To  get  this  blood  you  have  torn  open  the  sides  of  sev- 
eral capillaries  smaller  than  the  needle  ;  but  they  will 
repair  themselves  in  time, 
and  just  at  present  you 
have  more  need  of  that  red 
drop  outside  of  your  body 
than  inside  of  it.  Have  a 
piece  of  clean  glass  ready 
and  jostle  the  drop  of  blood 
down  upon  it.  Raise  the 
glass,  hold  it  over  some- 
thing white,  and  notice  the 
color.  You  will  see  that  it 
has  a  yellow  tinge. 

_  .  PREPARED  TO  DRAW  A  DROP  OF  BLOOD 

Now  break   through   a 

few  more  capillaries  with  your  needle ;  draw  another  drop 
of  blood ;  put  it  also  on  the  glass,  and  leave  it  there  for 
five  or  six  minutes.  Look  at  it  now  and  you  will  find  that 
it  has  turned  itself  into  jelly.  Set  a  tumbler  over  it  and 
let  it  remain  there  undisturbed  for  half  an  hour  or  so.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  you  will  see  a  bit  of  red  substance 
floating  in  a  small  drop  of  liquid  which  is  almost  colorless. 


86 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


Look  back  at  the  finger  you  pricked,  and,  if  you  did 
not  wipe  it  off  clean  after  you  pricked  it  last,  you  will  see 
that  there,  too,  a  remnant  of  the  blood  has  hardened  round 
the  edges  of  the  tiny  wound.  This  will  remind  you  of  the 
statement  so  often  made,  that  the  best  healer  for  a  wound 

is  the  blood  which  oozes 
through  it.    We  clean  a 
\v     7    wound  thoroughly,  we  pull 

J//T          ftjr  tne  edges  towards  each 

other,  we  even  sew  them 
together  sometimes,  and 
the  blood  which  continues 
to  ooze  from  the  capillaries 
hardens  on  the  edges  of 
the  wound.  We  are  care- 


CORPUSCLES SEE,  BY  THE  Am  OP  A      fd  tO  leaVG  5t  ther6  Undls- 

MICROSCOPE  turbed,  for  we  know  that 

A  few  red  ones  are  highly  magnified.  Those    it   cloSCS   the   break    better 

that  are  less  magnified  show  how  corpuscles      .  1  •     j       r       1 

stick  together  after  blood  is  drawn  from  the    than    any    kind    Ot    plaster, 


body.  Two  white  corpuscles  are  given  an(j  ^  the  WQrk  of  knit- 
ting these  separated  edges  together  goes  on  best  under 
the  crust  of  hardening  blood. 

If  we  could  add  the  use  of  a  good  microscope  to  our 
experiments,  and  if  we  knew  just  how  to  use  it  for 
such  close  investigations,  we  should  draw  a  third  drop  of 
blood,  put  it  under  the  microscope,  and  learn  a  number 
of  startling  facts  about  its  composition.  We  should  then 


BLOOD  INSIDE  AND  OUTSIDE  THE  TUBES  87 

recognize  it  as  a  liquid  with  multitudes  of  small  red  and 
white  objects  floating  in  it.  Blood  is  indeed  a  mixture 
of  three  things: 

i.  Red  objects  called  red  corpuscles.    There  are 

something  like  two  hundred  million  of  these  in  each 

drop  of  healthy  blood.    Imagine   then  their  size  ! 

Each  is  round  and  flat 

and  has  a  concave  cen- 

ter.    Its  shape  is  such 

as  you  would  get  by 

taking   a   wax  marble 

and  mashing  it  between 

the  thumb  and  finger. 

Pressed   in   this   way, 

the   center  is  thinner 

than  the  edges.    So  is    3 

it   with    every   red    COr-  RED  AND  WHITE  CORPUSCLES 

Nevertheless,    Four  different  shapes  and  four  positions 


.  -,  .  .       ,  .    ,  taken  by  the  same  white  corpuscle 

these  microscopic  disks 

are  the  important  oxygen  carriers  of  the  body,  and 
they  never  leave  the  blood  tubes  unless  these  tubes 
themselves  are  crushed  or  cut  or  forced  to  leak 
through  accident  or  disease. 

2.  The  liquid  part  called  plasma.  This  is  quite 
transparent  and  almost  colorless.  A  little  over  one 
half  of  each  quart  of  blood  is  plasma;  the  rest  is 
the  corpuscles. 


88  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

3.  Colorless  objects  called  white  corpuscles.  Of 
these  there  are  only  about  six  hundred  thousand 
to  each  drop  of  blood,  although  the  number  varies 
greatly  from  time  to  time.  They  are  specks  of  jelly- 
like  substance  that  change  their  shape  constantly. 
They  not  only  travel  with  the  other  corpuscles  in 
the  plasma,  but  they  also  work  their  way  through  the 
walls  of  the  capillaries  and  wander  here  and  there 
in  the  body.  They  destroy  intruding  microbes  when 
they  find  them,  and  help  more  than  any  other  part 
of  the  blood  in  healing  a  wound.  Much  more  is 
told  about  these  white  corpuscles  in  the  last  two 
chapters  of  this  book. 

Plasma,  red  corpuscles,  and  wrhite  corpuscles  tell  us  all 
that  the  microscope  shows  when  we  use  it  for  the  study 
of  blood.  But  a  chemist  will  take  the  same  blood,  will 
analyze  it  in  his  laboratory,  and  will  prove  that  it  is  made 
up  of  many  different  substances  of  which  we  have  not  so 
much  as  heard  the  names,  —  substances  needed,  however, 
for  the  work  which  each  separate  part  of  the  body  is 
doing.  He  will  tell  us  that  within  this  blood  is  all  that 
is  needed  for  the  manufacture  of  bone  and  muscle,  hair 
and  tendon,  tears  and  fat  and  finger  nails ;  that  it  is  the 
source  of  supply  for  all  that  lies  under  the  cover  of  the 
skin,  the  storehouse  for  more  treasures  than  we  have 
even  dreamed  about;  and  that  it  is  easy  to  enrich  or  to 
impoverish  the  blood  by  our  treatment  of  the  body. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 

Even  a  careless  thinker  will  see  that  however  intricate 
the  lacework  of  capillaries  is,  and  however  closely  these 
small  tubes  are  intertwined  with 
tissues  of  muscle  and  gland,  still 
the  blood  within  the  tubes  is  use- 
less to  the  body  unless  it  can  be 
brought  into  direct  contact  with 
the  muscle  and  gland  tissues 
themselves. 

An  experiment  will  make  the 
situation  plain  and  will  show  what 
the  outcome  of  it  is. 

Get  from  the  butcher  a  piece  of 
fresh  animal  membrane,  —  the  bladder  will  do.  Fill  a 
small  glass  with  fresh  water,  tie  the  membrane  tightly 
over  it,  set  the  glass  into  a  much  larger  one  rilled  with 
salted  water,  letting  the  water  cover  it,  and  leave  the 
two  tumblers  together  over  night.  In  the  morning  take 
the  smaller  from  the  larger,  unfasten  the  membrane,  and 
taste  the  water  which  was  fresh  and  sweet  the  night  be- 
fore. You  will  find  that  it  is  now  distinctly  salt.  Taste 

89 


ONE  GLASS  WITHIN  THE 
OTHER 

The  smaller  glass  holds  fresh 

water,  the  larger  holds  water 

and  salt 


90  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

the  water  in  the  larger  tumbler.  You  will  find  that  it 
has  grown  fresher  than  when  you  left  it. 

In  this  exchange  the  salt  in  the  liquid  has  acted 
according  to  a  universal  law.  Salt  is  indeed  one  of  the 
many  substances  which  always  pass  easily  back  and 
forth  through  any  moist  animal  membrane. 

Put  sugar  into  one  liquid  and  soda  into  another;  let 
a  membrane  be  stretched  between  them,  and  before  long 
you  will  have  two  liquids  that  have  become  strangely 
alike.  The  different  substances  in  the  liquids  have 
changed  places  through  the  membrane. 

Even  gases  are  subject  to  the  same  law.  Men  who 
know  how  to  handle  such  things  can  put  oxygen  in  one 
tube  and  carbon  dioxid  in  another.  They  can  then  ar- 
range to  separate  the  gases  by  a  piece  of  animal  mem- 
brane stretched  between  the  tubes,  and  they  discover  that 
the  two  gases  refuse  to  stay  apart.  Indeed,  so  much  of 
each  finds  its  way  through  the  partition  that  soon  there 
is  a  mixture  of  the  two  on  either  side  of  the  membrane. 

Experiments  such  as  these  answer  the  query  as  to 
how  the  body  gets  what  it  needs  from  the  blood. 
Everywhere  it  is  the  animal  membrane  of  the  tubes 
themselves  which  separates  the  blood  within  the  tubes 
from  a  certain  other  liquid  which  lies  close  about  them 
on  the  outside. 

However  small  and  however  thin  walled  the  blood 
vessels  may  be,  there  is  always  this  lymph  bathing  the 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES  91 

outside  like  a  sort  of  colorless  sap  in  the  body,  and  mak- 
ing its  exchanges  with  the  contents  of  the  liquid  within 
the  capillaries.  Moreover,  this  lymph  which  soaks  slowly 
but  constantly  through  every  tissue  of  the  body  is  laden 
with  carbon  dioxid  which  it  has  received  from  the  tis- 
sues of  the  body.  The  blood  is  rich  in  oxygen,  and  it  is 
separated  from  the  lymph  only  by  the  walls  of  the  cap- 
illaries. In  view  of  this,  what  could  be  more  natural 
than  the  thing  which  comes  to  pass?  These  gases  in 
the  lymph  and  in  the  blood  change  places  with  each 
other  as  promptly  as  do  the  liquid  materials  which  are 
also  in  the  lymph  and  in  the  blood. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  lymph  is  as  important  to  us 
as  is  the  blood  itself.  In  fact,  the  two  must  always  travel 
side  by  side.  They  are  indispensable  to  each  other. 
Without  the  one  the  other  is  useless.  Three  statements 
will  show  how  close  the  relation  is : 

1.  Blood  in  the  arteries  is  the  result  of  the  food 
we  eat  and  of  the  air  we  breathe.    It  contains  every 
supply  that  any  part  of  the  body  needs  for  nourish- 
ment, for  strength,  and  for  growth. 

2.  Blood  in  the  veins  is  what  is  left  after  the  lymph 
has  taken  from  it  the  oxygen  and  other  nourishment 
which  the  body  needs,  and  given  in  exchange  the 
carbon  dioxid  and  other  waste  which  must  be  carried 
off.  In  other  words,  venous  blood  is  rich  in  waste  from 
the  tissues  and  poor  in  nourishment  for  the  tissues. 


92  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

3.  Lymph  is  made  up  of  rich,  nourishing  plasma 
from  the  blood,  on  its  way  to  the  tissues,  and  of 
waste  material  from  the  body,  which  wall  soon  pass 
into  the  capillaries,  be  carried  onward  in  the  veins, 
and  be  disposed  of  as  we  shall  learn  hereafter. 
Lymph  is  also  the  highroad  to  the  blood  for  many 
substances  that  are  being  manufactured  by  the  dif- 
ferent organs  of  the  body.  These  manufactured 
articles  must  find  their  way  into  the  blood,  for  only 
through  circulation  will  they  ever  be  able  to  reach 
their  destination. 

The  origin  of  the  lymphatic  tubes  is  strangely  inter- 
esting for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  so  very  indefinite. 
Each  seems  to  begin  about  as  irregularly  as  a  stream 
gathers  water  in  a  swamp. 

As  we  know,  blood  vessels  are  a  closed  system  of  tubes 
with  a  stream  of  blood  sweeping  through  them  endlessly, 
— going  ever  round  and  round,  from  heart  back  to  heart 
again.  In  this  great  system  not  even  the  smallest  tube 
in  the  remotest  region  of  the  body  is  left  with  an  open 
mouth.  The  lymphatic  system,  however,  works  on  quite  a 
different  basis.  Here  the  vast  multitudes  of  the  smallest 
tubes  seem  to  be  really  little  more  than  open  mouths  into 
which  liquid  is  gradually  making  its  way.  Bear  this  in 
mind  while  the  facts  are  given  as  definite  statements: 

i.  Each  blood  vessel  of  the  body  makes  its  way 
through  a  mesh  work  of  tissues. 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 


93 


2.  Everywhere  among  these  intertwined  tissues 
there  is  a  colorless  liquid  called  lymph.  The  capil- 
laries of  the  blood  are  surrounded  by  this  lymph 
even  as  grass  and  weeds  are  surrounded  by  water 
in  a  swamp.  Lymph  looks  like  plasma  of  the  blood. 


A  CLUSTER  OF  TUBES 

Look  for  those  with  open  mouths:  A,  artery;    V,  vein; 
Z,  Z,  Z,  lymphatics 

3.  Lymph    and    plasma    are    constantly   making 
exchanges  through  the  walls  of  the  tubes  of  the 
blood  vessels. 

4.  Plasma  receives  from  the  lymph  all  that  the 
body  is  through  with  —all  that  should  go  on  in 
the  blood  and  be  disposed  of  elsewhere. 


94 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 


5.  Lymph  receives  from  the  plasma  all  the  nour- 
ishment which  the  tissues  need. 

6.  Opening  away  from  the  loose  fibers  through 
which  the  blood  vessels  run,  and  in  which  all  this 

exchange  is  going  on, 
there  are  other  tubes 
about  as  small  as  the 
capillaries ;  and  into  the 
open  mouths  of  these 
tubes  the  lymph  from  the 
tissues  gradually  makes 
its  way. 

7.  Vigorous    exercise 
hastens  the  flow  of  lymph 
no  less  than  of  blood,  and 
the  tissues  are  benefited 
thereby. 

8.  From  start  to  finish 
the  lymphatic  tubes  pro- 

LYMPHATICS  OF  THE  HAND  grCSS     from     Smaller     to 

larger,  as  do  those  of  the 
veins.  They  are  also  pro- 
vided with  inside  pockets  quite  like  those  of  the 
veins.  These  pocket  valves  keep  the  lymph  from 
moving  backwards  and  help  to  send  it  constantly 
onward,  that  it  may  at  last  mingle  with  the  great 
stream  of  blood  that  goes  to  the  heart. 


Smaller  tubes  lie  near  the  surface, 
larger  ones  lie  deeper 


EXCHANGES  ALONG  THE  TUBES 


95 


9.  This  progress  from  smaller  to  larger  tubes  con- 
tinues until  all  the  lymph  of  the  body  finds  its  way 
through  two  large  lymph 
tubes,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  neck.  These  empty 
into  two  large  veins,  and 
thenceforward  lymph  and 
blood  go  on  their  way  to- 
gether to  the  heart.  The 
lymph,  with  all  it  has  gath- 
ered, has  now  entered  the 
circulatory  system,  and  thus 
the  contribution  from  the 
many  different  organs  of 
the  body  will  be  distributed 
by  means  of  the  blood.  The 
movement  of  this  fluid  con- 
tinues during  life,  for  the 
lymph  vessels  and  lymph 
spaces  can  never  be  empty 
so  long  as  the  organs  of 
the  body  are  at  work. 

A    Special    point    to    remember    seen  to  empty  into  the  large  veins 

is  that  blood  vessels  and  the  tissues  are  as  much  better 
off  when  fresh  lymph  surrounds  them  as  are  fish  when 
they  are  in  fresh  water. 


VEINS  AND  LYMPH  TUBES 
The  lymph  tubes  are  white  and  are 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION 

A  man  is  sometimes  so  sensitive  about  the  dull  red 
end  of  his  nose  that  he  is  ready  to  welcome  almost  any 
device  which  may  rid  him  of  it.  Perhaps  he  knows  and 


PRICKING  THE  CAPILLARIES 

By  electricity  through  the  point  of  a  needle  many  capillaries  are 
destroyed ;  after  that  the  man  is  cured  of  his  red  nose 

(Copied  from  the  Literary  Digest) 

perhaps  he  does  not  know  that  the  reason  for  the  color 
is  the  condition  of  his  capillaries.    Each  smallest  tube  in 

the  special  spot  is  indeed  overcharged  with  blood ;  and 

96 


ALCOHOL  ANJ)  CIRCULATION  97 

in  so  far  as  a  nose  is  bright  red  or  dull  red  are  we  our- 
selves able  to  judge  as  to  whether  or  not  the  capillaries 
are  particularly  distended  just  there. 

Red  eyelids  and  a  pink  nose  tell  plain  facts  about  the 
state  of  the  capillaries  in  those  particular  regions.  But  in 
the  matter  of  general  health,  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  has 
a  red  nose  signifies  very  little.  Many  a  hearty  sea  captain 
has  carried  such  a  nose  with  him  through  half  a  century 
of  life.  He  has  lived  to  be  eighty  years  old  or  older,  and 
the  shade  of  his  sunburned  nose  has  made  him  neither 
more  nor  less  healthy  than  he  otherwise  would  have  been. 

Sometimes,  however,  the  color  of  a  man's  nose  is  a 
sign  of  general  internal  conditions.  It  may  show  that 
the  capillaries  throughout  his  body  are  loaded  with 
slow-moving  blood ;  and  this  condition  of  the  capilla- 
ries throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  sort  of  work  which 
the  heart  itself  is  doing. 

Judging  by  facts  which  we  have  already  learned,  three 
points  are  clear: 

1.  Slow-moving  blood  is  more  impure  than  that 
which  moves  faster;  for  this  reason  such  blood  is 
always  a  disadvantage  to  any  part  of  the  body  in 
which  it  tarries. 

2.  The  mere  fact  that  blood  is  moving  fast  shows 
that  impurities  are  being  hastened  out  of  the  way 
and  that  fresh  material  is  being  supplied  to  lymph 
and  tissue. 


98  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

3.  The  blood  vessels  must  always  be  in  a  healthy, 
vigorous,  elastic  condition  if  the  best  exchanges  are 
to  be  made  through  their  walls. 

In  view  of  these  statements  we  are  ready  to  under- 
stand a  set  of  scientific  discoveries  about  circulation 
which  have  been  made  during  the  past  few  years.  It 
appears  that  for  many  previous  years  educated  doctors 
and  ignorant  men  alike  were  united  in  the  conviction 
that  alcohol  was  a  genuine  help  to  the  vigor  of  the  cir- 
culation. Thousands  of  men  thought  they  had  proved 
this  by  personal  experience.  At  different  times,  and  in 
different  places,  they  had  taken  alcohol  in  large  doses 
or  in  small  doses  as  they  chose,  and  after  the  drinking 
they  had  tested  their  hearts  and  knew  by  the  count  of 
the  pulse  that  the  number  of  heart  beats  had  increased. 
They  felt  the  blood  bounding  faster  through  their  veins, 
and  it  was  most  natural  for  them  to  believe  that  the 
alcohol  which  they  had  taken  had  strengthened  the 
heart,  even  as  food  strengthens  the  body. 

In  time,  however,  an  instrument  was  invented  which 
measured  the  strength  of  each  heart  beat.  This  instru- 
ment is  in  wide  use  to-day,  because  doctors  find  that 
they  can  judge  in  a  general  way  as  to  whether  a  man  is 
well  or  not  by  the  vigor  or  the  languor  with  which  his 
heart  does  its  work. 

And  now  for  the  surprise  which  overtook  doctors 
and  scientists  alike.  They  took  alcohol  themselves; 


ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION  99 

they  gave  it  to  their  friends  and  their  patients;  they 
studied  the  heart  and  found  that  its  throbs  had  in- 
creased in  number.  But  when  they  also  used  the  in- 
strument —  the  sphygmograph  —  they  were  surprised  to 
see  that  the  heart  was  not  putting  as  much  power  into 
each  stroke  now  as  it  did  before  the  alcohol  was  taken. 


THE  SPHYGMOGRAPH  IN  PLACE 

By  the  use  of  this  instrument  men  learn  facts  about  the  way  the 
heart  and  the  arteries  are  working 

Over  and  over  again  the  tests  were  made,  and  always 
with  the  same  result.  Each  trial  showed  that  although 
the  heart  was  now  pumping  faster  than  usual,  it  was 
nevertheless  doing  its  work  with  less  vigor.  It  was 
using  less  force  for  the  increased  number  of  strokes 
than  it  used  for  the  smaller  number  made  before  alco- 
hol had  been  added  to  the  blood. 

Testimony  of  this  sort  put  a  new  color  on  the  practice 
of  using  alcohol  when  the  heart  needs  to  be  strengthened. 


100  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

Doctors  in  every  land  had  to  yield  to  the  evidence  of 
their  senses.  They  had  to  believe  that,  instead  of  giving 
strength,  alcohol  actually  robs  the  heart  of  a  part  of  the 
strength  which  it  had  before  the  alcohol  was  taken. 

This  was  a  difficult  doctrine  to  accept,  and  question 
and  investigation  continued  to  pursue  each  other  in 
quick  succession  until  at  last  there  was  no  further 
doubt  about  it.  To-day  the  facts  of  the  case  are  ac- 
cepted by  all  persons  except  those  who  are  not  up  to 
date  in  the  matter.  I  give  a  few  of  the  most  important 
points : 

1.  Healthy   tubes    that    carry   blood    are   elastic. 
They  stretch  out  when  blood  is  pumped  into  them 
by  the  heart,  and  they  contract  firmly  again  as  they 
send  the  blood  onward. 

2.  The  first  effect  of  alcohol   in  the  body  is  to 
paralyze  in  a  very  slight  way  every  tube  that  has 
anything   to    do    with    carrying   blood    hither   and 
thither. 

3.  Because  the  tubes  are  slightly  paralyzed  they 
are  more  relaxed  than  formerly.   They  contract  less. 
They  therefore  offer  less  resistance  to  the  blood  that 
is  pumped  into  them.   After  they  are  full  they  stay 
relaxed,  and  do  not  have  the  elastic  power  to  pull 
themselves  firmly  into  shape  again. 

4.  The    heart    is  also  slightly  paralyzed   by  the 
alcohol.    Still  those  countless  relaxed  tubes  offer  so 


ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION  IOI 

little  resistance  that  the  heart  pumps  the  blood  into 
them  with  less  effort  than  formerly,  and,  as  a  result, 
contracts  more  frequently. 

Thus  far,  however,  no  harm  appears.  The  capillaries 
are  full  of  blood ;  the  man  feels  the  warmer  for  it,  and 
his  heart  is  beating  a  trifle  faster  than  usual.  That  is  all. 
But  now  begins  the  chapter  of  damages  and  calamities. 

During  the  time  that  the  heart  itself  is  weakened,  it  can- 
not put  force  enough  into  each  stroke  to  drive  the  blood 
on  in  spite  of  the  relaxed  state  of  the  walls  of  the  tubes. 
Various  results  are  now  inevitable.  Blood  moves  more 
slowly  through  the  tubes ;  it  is  slow  in  carrying  away 
broken-down  tissue  from  the  lymph ;  it  is  slow  in  bring- 
ing fresh  nourishment  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  tissues. 

In  the  meantime,  if  alcohol  continues  to  be  taken,  the 
capillaries  may  be  kept  stretched  so  long  as  to  lose  all 
power  to  contract.  If  this  is  persisted  in,  the  walls  them- 
selves end  by  becoming  thicker  and  stiffen  The  work  of 
exchange  which  should  go  on  at  a  rapid  pace  through 
them  is  thus  interfered  with,  and  the  health  of  the 
drinker  suffers  in  numerous  ways. 

This  is  no  fancy  picture.  It  is  simply  the  history  of 
circulation  in  such  persons  as  are  ignorant  enough  to 
be  willing  to  rob  themselves  of  the  work  which  their 
blood  and  their  blood  vessels  should  do  for  them. 

The  most  alarming  side  of  the  affair,  however,  is  in 
connection  with  what  happens  to  the  heart.  Because 


IO2 


THE  BODY  AND   ITS  DEFENSES 


this  tireless  pump  is  weaker  than  it  was,  it  also  becomes 
stretched;  and  as  it  cannot  do  full  work,  it  lacks  the 
exercise  which  would  keep  it  in  vigorous  health.  It 
grows  flabby,  as  does  an  unused  arm.  Fat  gathers  not 
only  between  the  fibers  but  also  within  the  separate 
fibers.  In  this  latter  case  fat  takes  the  place  of  tissue 


Two  HEARTS  SIDE  BY  SIDE 

On  the  left  the  heart  is  normal,  on  the  right  it  is  enlarged  and  weakened  by  fat 
(Copied  from  Alcohol  and  the  Hitman  Body,  by  Horsley  and  Sturge) 

itself,  and  then  occurs  what  is  called  fatty  degeneration 
of  the  heart,  —  a  most  serious  condition.  For  a  heart  of 
this  sort  is  too  weak  to  send  blood  onward  as  rapidly  as  it 
should  go.  This  means  that  circulation  throughout  the 
entire  body  is  hindered,  and  that  each  great  organ  suffers 
for  lack  of  what  it  should  get  through  fresh  supplies 
of  blood.  Evidently  then  he  who  owns  a  fatty  heart, 


ALCOHOL  AND  CIRCULATION  103 

weakened  from  any  cause,  is  far  less  sure  of  con- 
tinued life  than  he  might  have  been.  Since  he  secured 
this  condition  through  ignorance,  he  is  not  to  blame. 
But  sad  as  is  the  fact,  ignorance  never  saves  men  from 
the  results  of  their  ignorance. 

Why  do  surgeons  dread  to  do  anything  for  the  man 
who  .uses  alcohol?  Because  they  know  only  too  well 
that  the  power  of  his  heart  and  the  elasticity  of  his 
arteries  have  been  reduced.  They  are  afraid  that  his 
heart  may  not  rally  after  they  have  done  what  cutting 
is  necessary.  In  writing  of  this  danger,  Sir  Frederick 
Treves  says: 

Having  spent  the  greater  part  of  my  life  in  operating,  I  can  assure 
you  that  there  are  some  patients  that  I  don't  mind  operating  upon  and 
some  that  I  do ;  but  the  person  of  all  others  that  I  dread  to  see  enter 
the  operating  theater  is  the  drinker.  He  is  the  most  dangerous  feature 
in  connection  with  the  surgical  life. 

It  is  because  of  this  constant  state  of  relaxed  capil- 
laries that  the  nose  of  the  drinker  stays  red.  In  his 
case  the  nose  is  frequently  a  reliable  sign  of  internal 
conditions. 


CHAPTER  XV 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS 

If  you  were  ever  thoroughly  out  of  breath,  recall  the 
sensations  you  had  at  the  time.  Perhaps  you  were  try- 
ing to  catch  a  train ;  perhaps 
you  were  running  in  a  relay 
race.  In  either  case  you  felt 
that  you  must  reach  the  goal 
at  all  hazards,  and  you  ran  as 
you  had  never  run  before. 

But  think  of  the  discomfort 
of  it !  Since  your  legs  were 
young  and  strong  you  thought 
nothing  about  your  muscles 
but  simply  used  them  hard. 
You  ran  fast.  Your  breath  came 
and  went  freely,  and  during  the 
RUNNING  AS  FAST  AS  POSSIBLE  first  few  moments  you  drew 
deep,  long  breaths  of  equal  length.  Soon,  however,  you 
found  that  each  breath  was  shorter  than  the  last ;  also 
that  they  came  and  went  in  quicker  succession.  You 
began  to  be  uncomfortable.  There  was  a  tight  feeling 

within  you,  as  if  an  iron  band  were  closing  itself  about 

104 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS 


105 


your  chest ;  as  if  it  prevented  you  from  expanding  your 
lungs  to  their  full  size.  You  wondered  how  much  longer 
you  could  keep  it  up. 

But  why  were  you  breathless  ?  To  answer  the  ques- 
tion, follow  once  more  the  condition  of  muscle  and  bone, 
tendon  and  heart,  lungs  and  blood  vessels,  while  you 
were  running.  Think  for  a  moment  of  your  unelastic 


67  89 

NINE  VIEWS  OF  THE  SAME  MAN  AS  HE  RAN 

A  different  set  of  muscles  is  at  work  in  each  position,  so  that  altogether  many 
muscles  are  used  in  running 

(After  Schmidt) 

tendons  as  they  stayed  firmly  gripped  to  their  bone 
attachments.  Remember  how  each  one  of  multitudes 
of  muscles,  large  and  small,  shortened  and  lengthened 
as  by  means  of  their  tendons  they  pulled  those  leg 
bones  of  yours  up  and  down  and  kept  them  at  work. 
Remember  that  neither  arms  nor  head  nor  any  other 
part  of  your  body  was  quiet  as  you  ran,  but  that  every 


106  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

muscle  seemed  to  work  hard  in  keeping  time  and  step 
with  the  movement  of  the  legs.  Remember  that  such 
violent  action  as  this  means  that  changes  are  going  on 
in  the  substance  of  the  living  tissue  which  is  exercised, 
that  these  changes  involve  the  giving  off  of  unusual  quan- 
tities of  carbon  dioxid,  that  oxygen  is  needed  by  the 
working  fibers,  and  that  in  order  to  supply  the  oxygen 
and  to  carry  off  the  carbon  dioxid,  fresh  streams  of  blood 
must  be  hastened  to  the  active  muscles  with  ever-increas- 
ing speed.  The  most  immediate,  imperative  need  of  each 
working  fiber  is  to  get  rid  of  the  excess  of  carbon  dioxid. 
There  are  three  things  which  bring  about  such  a  con- 
dition of  breathlessness : 

1.  Exercise  violent  enough  to  compel  the  fibers 
of    the    muscles   to   produce    unusual   quantities  of 
carbon  dioxid.    As  this  gas  is  produced,  oxygen  is 
demanded    by  the   fibers.    It  is  indeed  as   if   they 
themselves  were  breathing. 

2.  The  activity  of  the  chest  walls  as  they  expel 
the  carbon  dioxid  from  the  air  sacs   of  the  lungs 
and  replace  it  with  air  containing  oxygen. 

3.  The   rapid   work    of   the   heart   as   it   receives 
larger  amounts  of  impure  blood  than  usual  through 
the  veins  and  sends  arterial  blood  to  the  tissues  to 
carry  oxygen  and  to  bring  away  carbon  dioxid.    To 
a  large  extent  it  is  this  forced  work  of  the  heart  that 
explains  the  feeling  of  breathlessness. 


AS  WE  GROW  BREATHLESS  107 

We  were  speaking  of  this  matter  the  other  day,  and 
my  friend,  who  teaches  physiology,  said : 

People  used  to  say  that  a  man  was  breathless  because  there  was 
more  carbon  dioxid  in  his  blood  than  he  could  expel  through  his  lungs. 
But  we  know  better  now.  We  know  that  it  isn't  so  much  the  carbon 
dioxid  —  although  of  course  that  has  to  be  driven  off  —  as  it  is  the 
overtaxed  heart  that  makes  us  breathless. 

Boys  come  to  me  for  examination,  and  I  tell  them  that  the  heart 
gets  tired  from  overwork,  just  as  the  biceps  does,  and  that  it  is  quite 
as  possible  to  strengthen  the  heart  by  training  as  to  strengthen  the 
biceps.  At  first  I  put  the  boys  on  easy  exercises  that  tax  the  heart  but 
little ;  then  day  by  day  I  give  what  is  harder  until,  almost  before  they 
know  it,  those  boys  have  developed  hearts  that  are  strong  enough  to 
do  good  hard  work  without  making  them  breathless. 

The  recognized  fact  is  that  we  grow  breathless  in 
proportion  to  the  force  which  we  put  into  any  exercise 
in  a  given  length  of  time ;  that  is,  the  faster  we  do  the 
same  thing,  the  more  quickly  will  breathlessness  over- 
take us.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  understand  an  opposite 
condition,  and  to  believe  that  the  quieter  we  are,  the  less 
oxygen  the  tissues  will  use  and  the  less  carbon  dioxid 
the  body  will  have  to  get  rid  of. 

The  following  figures  show  the  amounts  of  carbon 
dioxid  which  a  man  gives  off  while  sleeping,  sitting,  or 
running  for  a  given  length  of  time : 

While  sleeping 035  gram 

While  sitting 060 

While  running 165 


108  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Men  have  killed  animals  after  a  long  hunt  and  have 
found  the  blood  of  the  arteries  so  changed  in  color  that 
it  looked  like  blood  from  the  veins.  It  was  dark  and 
impure  because  it  held  an  oversupply  of  carbon  dioxid 
and  had  lost  most  of  the  oxygen. 

When  we  are  breathless  most  of  the  trouble  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  heart  is  overtaxed  by  the  large  quantity 
of  blood  sent  to  it  from  the  hard-working  muscles  to  be 
forwarded  to  the  lungs  to  be  purified  of  its  carbon  dioxid, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  lungs  are  also  overtaxed  by 
their  unusual  work. 

Those  who  train  for  athletic  sports  learn  to  keep  the 
balance  of  the  gases  in  their  blood.  They  know  how  to 
manage  their  running  and  the  work  of  heart  and  lungs 
in  such  a  way  that  neither  will  be  overtaxed  until  the  end 
is  near.  They  are  willing  to  be  breathless  at  the  very 
last  because  they  are  soon  to  stop  running  and  catch 
their  breath  again.  But  to  get  breathless  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  race  means  defeat. 

The  same  is  true  in  horseracing.  No  good  jockey 
lets  his  horse  get  out  of  breath  until  the  last  part  of  the 
race.  At  that  time,  however,  the  horse  is  urged  to  work 
the  muscles  of  his  legs  as  hard  and  as  fast  as  possible.  It 
is  safe  to  do  this  now,  for  as  soon  as  he  reaches  the  goal 
his  muscles  will  stop  producing  such  quantities  of  carbon 
dioxid  and  his  heart  will  cease  to  be  overtaxed  by  its  work 
of  pumping  this  impure  blood  to  the  lungs  to  be  purified. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 

Place  one  hand  lightly  on  your  chest ;  place  the  other 
on  your  back  between  the  shoulder  blades ;  inhale  slowly 
until  your  lungs  are  full,  then  exhale  slowly  until  they 
seem  empty.  While  you 
do  this  notice  that  the 
breastbone  rises,  and  that 
the  front  and  rear  walls 
of  yeur  chest  are  forced 
gradually  farther  apart. 

While  you  take  another 
long  breath  and  send  it  MEASURED  BY  THE  DoCTOR 

out  again  stand  with  your  hands  resting  lightly  on  each 
side  of  the  body  just  over  your  lower  ribs.  Notice  that 
it  is  expansion  sideways  this  time ;  you  also  see  that  the 
capacity  of  your  chest  has  increased  greatly. 

Take  a  tape  measure  and  get  the  girth  of  your  chest 
after  you  have  exhaled  all  you  can,  and  again  after  you 
have  drawn  in  as  large  a  supply  of  air  as  your  lungs 
will  hold.  Learn  from  these  tests  that  the  size  of  your 
chest  can  be  increased  and  diminished  at  will,  and  that  its 

size  can  be  increased  permanently  by  frequent  exercise  of 

109 


no 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


WITH  HIS  CHEST  EXPANDED 


this  kind.  To  prove  this  in  your  own  case,  measure  your 
chest  to-day ;  then  for  two  months  take  fifteen  deep,  full 
breaths  three  times  a  day.  With  each  breath  expand 

your  lungs  as  fully  as  you 
can  without  really  straining 
them.  At  the  end  of  the  two 
months  measure  yourself 
again  and  you  will  find  that 
your  chest  measure  has  in- 
creased. From  this  you  have 
the  right  to  conclude  that 
your  lungs  also  are  larger. 
We  often  talk  of  the  lungs  as  if  they  were  a  pair  of 
big  bags  tucked  in  under  the  ribs  somewhere,  waiting  to 
swell  out  or  to  sink  in  according  as  we  use  them.  In  a 
way  the  notion  of  the  bag  is 
rather  correct,  except  that  in- 
stead of  two  bags,  one  on  each 
side,  we  must  think  of  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of 
microscopic  bags  called  air 
sacs.  We  must  recall  what  we 
learned  in  Good  Health,  and 
think  of  each  one  of  these 
sacs  as  the  expanded  tip  of  a  tiny  tube  that  ends  in  it. 
We  must  remember  that  the  tubes  themselves  are  the 
small  twigs  of  larger  tube  branches,  and  that  within  the 


A  HOLLOW  CHEST 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR 


1 1 1 


large  chamber  which  the  ribs  make  we  have  two  sets  of 
these  branching  tubes  ending  in  air  sacs.  Each  set  is  called 
a  lung.  The  heart  lies  between  the  right  and  left  lungs, 
and  is  a  trifle  more  on  the  left  than  on  the  right  side. 

For  the  sake  of  saving  time  and  space  a  few  facts,  new 
and  old,  must  be  given  under  numbered  headings.  They 
show  how  the  lungs  help  us 
throughout  our  lives : 

1.  Blood  that   enters 
the  lungs  is  so  dark  and 
so  well  laden  with  car- 
bon  dioxid  —  although 
there   is   also  some  oxy- 
gen in  it  —  that  we  call 
it   impure.     Blood   that 
leaves    the    lungs   is  so 
well  loaded  with  oxygen 

that  it  has  gained  a  bright  scarlet  color,  and  we  call 
it  pure,  as  indeed  it  is.  Even  in  pure  arterial  blood, 
however,  there  is  some  carbon  dioxid. 

2.  Lungs  are  at  work  not  because  they  themselves 
need  air,  but  because  they  serve  as  a  storehouse  and 
a  place  where  oxygen  and  carbon  dioxid  may  change 
places.    Such  a  central  exchange  is  needed  because, 
as  we  know,  here  and  there  over  the  entire  body 
each  smallest  tissue  is  in  need  of  oxygen  and  must 
be  relieved  of  its  carbon  dioxid.    It  is  in  the  lungs 


TUBES  AND  AIR  SACS  OF  THE 
LUNGS 


112  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

that  blood  unloads  itself  of  most  of  its  carbon  dioxid, 
loads  itself  up  with  oxygen,  and  streams  off  to  some 
distant  destination.  Breathing,  then,  is  mainly  for 
the  benefit  of  the  tissues  of  the  body,  not  for  the 
sake  of  the  lungs  themselves. 

3.  All  the  blood  of  the  body  comes  to  the  lungs 
and  goes  away  again  once  every  twenty-three  sec- 
onds. While  it  passes  through  the  lungs  it  does  not 
leave  the  capillaries,  but  the  capillaries  themselves 
are  so  closely  intertwined  with  the  air  sacs  that  the 
two  cannot  be  separated.  And  while  they  lie  thus 
near  together,  with  capillaries  close  about  the  air 
sacs,  rapid  exchanges  are  taking  place.  Oxygen 
mixed  with  the  other  gases  of  the  air  is  on  one  side 
of  the  animal  membrane  of  the  air  sac  ;  carbon  dioxid, 
with  a  little  oxygen,  is  in  the  blood  on  the  other  side 
of  the  membrane  within  the  capillaries.  And  as  the 
gases  are  side  by  side,  two  of  them  —  the  oxygen  and 
the  carbon  dioxid  —  change  places  without  delay. 
Oxygen  enters  the  blood  from  the  air  sac ;  carbon 
dioxid  enters  the  air  sac  from  the  blood;  the  red 
corpuscle  carriers  are  loaded  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  and  hasten  off  to  unload  where  their  cargo  is 
called  for.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the  large  supply 
of  carbon  dioxid  is  as  unwelcome  in  the  air  sac  as  it  is 
everywhere  else  in  the  body.  It  is  therefore  expelled 
as  promptly  as  possible  by  an  outgoing  breath. 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR  113 

In  view  of  these  three  important  facts  it  is  quite  evi- 
dent that  large,  healthy  lungs  will  be  invaluable  to  any 
one  who  wishes  to  take  vigorous  exercise,  and  that,  on 
the  other  hand,  this  exercise  itself  is  the  very  best  thing 
that  can  be  done  to  develop  the  lungs. 

A  man  is  always  glad  when  his  chest  measure  seems 
to  show  that  he  has  large  lung  capacity ;    and  many  a 
man  with  a  narrow  chest  has  tried  to  enlarge  his  lungs 
by  raising  his  ribs,  by  walking  with  chest 
forward,  by  taking  exercises  which  have 
given   him   strong    arms,  a   strong  back, 
and  firm  muscles  across  the  chest.    In  so 
far  as  these  exercises   made  him  breathe 
deeply  he  helped  himself,  but  unless  he 
held  this  fact  in  mind  he  may  not  have      GROUPS  OF  AIR 
gained  so  much  as  he  hoped,  for  the  surest  SACS 

way  to  increase  the  size  of  the  lungs  is  by  exercising  the 
breathing  muscles  and  by  stretching  the  air  sacs  them- 
selves. The  entire  group  of  sacs  should  often  be  com- 
pelled to  expand  more  fully  than  they  naturally  do  in  the 
course  of  regular  daily  breathing;  and  the  best  way  to 
expand  them  is  not  by  standing  still  and  taking  deep 
breaths,  but  by  using  large  muscles  vigorously,  thus  com- 
pelling the  lungs  to  work  hard  too. 

Many  a  sagging  chest  hides  from  sight  multitudes  of 
inactive  air  sacs  that  have  never  been  expanded  through 
hard  exercise.  Nevertheless,  each  separate  one  would 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


have  worked  well  and  would  have  increased  in  size  if 
its  owner  had  been  intelligent  enough  to  compel  it  to 
gain  capacity  and  power  through  such  hard  breathing 
as  comes  from  fast  walking,  from  running  or  jumping, 
or  from  lively  games  played  out  of  doors. 

Unless  some  care  is 
taken,  endless  numbers  of 
air  sacs  may  stay  inactive 
for  weeks  together,  and 
end  by  being  a  source  of 
danger.  Only  by  the  full 
breath,  which  is  broad  as 
well  as  deep,  does  much 
air  get  into  the  upper  cor- 
ners of  the  lungs,  and 
these  air  sacs,  left  inactive, 
yield  quickest  to  disease 
microbes  when  the  attack 
comes.  It  is  indeed  just 
here  that  tuberculosis 
most  often  begins  its 
work.  This  dread  disease 
makes  rapid  advance  in  the  lungs  of  those  who  have 
the  largest  number  of  unused  air  sacs. 

Even  for  the  sake  of  future  health,  then,  exercise  of 
the  lungs  is  invaluable.  This  exercise  may  be  secured 
in  one  of  two  ways : 


HEART  AND  LUNGS  IN  CLOSE 
CONNECTION 

A,  left  lung ;  B,  heart ;  £>,  tube  through 
which  blood  goes  to  the  lungs  to  be  puri- 
fied ;  E,  windpipe  through  which  air  goes 
to  the  lungs  with  oxygen  for  the  air  sacs 


WHERE  BLOOD  CHANGES  COLOR  115 

1.  By  voluntary  full  breathing  exercises.    Ten  full 
breaths  taken  three  times  each  day  will  keep  the 
air  sacs  in  active   condition.    This   is  much   better 
than  nothing. 

2.  By  involuntary  full   breathing.    This   may  be 
brought  about  very  quickly  by  giving  vigorous  exer- 
cise to  the  large  muscles  of  the  body.    Running  and 
climbing,  skipping  rope  and  dancing,  anything  that 
uses  large  muscles  fast  will  fill  the  air  sacs  and  keep 
them  in  good  condition.    You  may  prove   this  for 
yourself. 

While  taking  exercise  or  breathing  at  any  other  time, 
keep  in  mind  the  following  valuable  points  learned  in 
Good  Health  : 

1.  Air  enters  the  lungs  through  tubes  that  begin 
with  the  nose  and  end  in  air  sacs. 

2.  As  a  rule  breathing  should  be  done  through 
the  nose  and  not  through  the  mouth,  because  the 
delicate,  damp  lining  of  the  nose  warms  the  air  and 
cleans  it  before  it  reaches  the  air  sacs. 

3.  It  is  important  to  send  down  well-cleaned  air, 
because  the  inside  lining  of  each  air  tube  is  made 
of  the  most  delicate  membrane  and  is  easily  injured. 
Dust  that   brings  tears  to   the   eyes  is  even  more 
harmful  to  the  lungs. 

With  all  these  facts  before  him,  let  the  young  person 
who  has  a  narrow  or  flat  chest  set  about  his  own 


Il6  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

improvement.  Let  him  apply  his  knowledge  and  secure 
for  himself  a  chest  that  will  be  a  cause  for  honest  pride. 
If  he  wishes  to  be  an  athlete,  he  must  not  forget  that  the 
best  developed  leg  muscles  are  of  little  use  for  running 
unless  the  lungs  and  the  heart  are  able  to  do  their  share 
of  the  work.  For,  as  some  one  has  said,  "  We  run  as  much 
with  our  lungs  and  our  heart  as  with  our  legs." 


CHAPTER  XVII 


THE  FOE  OF  MAN  — TUBERCLE  BACILLUS 

Perhaps  no  discovery  connected  with  the  lungs  has 
ever  excited  the  thinking  people  of  the  world  quite  so 
much  as  that  of  Dr.  Robert  Koch  in  1882.  This  man 
was  a  German  scientist ;  and  when  he  declared  that  he 
had  found  the  microbe  which  kills 
more  human  beings  each  year  than 
any  other  one  disease,  the  news  seemed 
almost  too  good  to  be  true. 

The  fact  is  that,  until  1882,  no  one 
had  ever  known  how  tuberculosis1 
travels,  how  to  prevent  it,  or  how  to 
cure  it.  Yet  on  all  hands,  in  all  lands, 
doctors  were  appalled  at  the  death  rate 
that  followed  wherever  the  disease  went.  By  studying 
the  records  they  saw  that,  each  year,  in  New  York 
City  alone,  ten  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  die 
of  tuberculosis;  that  in  the  United  States  as  a  whole 
five  hundred  thousand  people  are  constantly  ill  with  it ; 
that  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  this  number 
die  each  year  of  tuberculosis,  and  that  the  ranks  are 

1  Tuberculosis  of  the  lungs  is  called  consumption. 
117 


TUBERCLE  BACILLI 

Three  thousand  put 
end  to  end  will  meas- 
ure one  inch 


Il8  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

quickly  refilled  by  those  who  have  been  well  previously, 
but  who  in  some  mysterious  way  have  been  stricken 
with  the  disease.  Doctors  also  realize  that  in  the  world 
itself  about  one  million  people  are  killed  by  tubercle 
bacilli  each  year,  a  number  larger  than  the  total  of 
those  who  are  slain  in  the  battles  of  the  world  for 
a  century. 

Heretofore,  in  every  land,  the  saddest  part  of  the  situ- 
ation has  been  that  when  a  person  found  he  had  tuber- 
culosis he  felt  helpless  about  it.  He  thought  the  chances 
were  all  against  his  getting  well  again.  He  even  thought 
there  was  little  to  do  but  to  get  ready  to  die.  Imagine 
then  the  great  hope  that  sprang  up,  everywhere  when 
Dr.  Koch  announced  that  he  knew  where  tuberculosis 
came  from  and  how  men  might  escape  it.  He  said  he 
had  made  the  discovery  by  the  use  of  his  microscope, 
and  that  what  he  found  was  a  living  and  growing  thing. 
He  gave  the  microbe  a  name,  tubercle  bacillus ;  studied 
its  size  and  shape ;  noticed  its  habits ;  watched  it  multi- 
ply ;  learned  how  it  may  be  conquered  in  the  human 
body,  and  also  saw  what  conditions  favor  its  rapid 
growth.  Knowing  as  he  did  that  each  one  of  his  dis- 
coveries would  help  save  the  lives  of  men,  he  published 
his  conclusions  promptly.  Here  are  a  few  of  his  facts 
packed  closely  together: 

1.  Each  separate  bacillus  is  a  separate  plant. 

2.  Each  is  small  and  slender  like  a  tiny  rod. 


THE  FOE  OF  MAN  — TUBERCLE  BACILLUS        119 

3.  Three  thousand  of  these  microbes  put  end  to 
end  will  measure  one  inch. 

4.  Each  multiplies  by  dividing. 

5.  The  only  place  where  they  can  multiply  is  in 
the  bodies  of  men  and  animals,  or  in  laboratories 
where  scientists  raise  them. 

6.  After  they  leave  the  body  they  live,  but  ap- 
parently they  cannot  multiply. 

7.  They  live  best  in  damp,  dark  places. 

8.  In  such  places  they  live  anywhere  from  a  few 
weeks  to  two  years. 

9.  Bright  sunshine  kills  them  in  a  few  hours. 

10.  Boiling  kills  them  at  once. 

11.  Cold  does  them  no  harm. 

12.  They  can  live  and  float  about  in  the  driest 
dust. 

13.  They  may  give  tuberculosis   to  any  part  of 
the  body. 

14.  They  give  it  to  the  lungs  most  often. 

15.  Tuberculosis  of   the  lungs  is  what   we   call 
consumption. 

The  discovery  of  all  these  facts,  one  by  one,  was  excit- 
ing to  every  doctor,  every  scientist,  and  every  consump- 
tive who  heard  about  them ;  for  each  one  knew  that  a 
turning  point  had  come  in  the  history  of  the  disease,  and 
that  there  was  hope  now  for  thousands  of  people  who 
were  hopeless  before. 


I2O 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


It  was  also  clear  that,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
from  the  richest  to  the  poorest,  from  the  wisest  to  the 
most  ignorant,  all  sorts  of  people  were  exposing  others 
to  the  disease  every  day,  and  that  each  one  was  blame- 
less ;  for  until  Koch's  great  discovery  no  one  knew  the 
facts  about  the  tubercle  bacillus.  Now,  however,  various 


11C  118120  122  121  120  128  130  132  134  1301381384140113  1«  HG  US  150  102  104  150  10(5 158 


"LUNG  BLOCK" 

The  shaded  parts  show  courts  and  air  shafts.   Each  letter  stands  for  one  case  of 

consumption  reported  since   1894.    All  the  "  a's  "  belong  to  1894,  the  "b's  "  to 

1895,  the  "  c's  "  to  1896,  etc.,  up  to  1903 

earnest  men  and  women  learned  these  facts  by  heart 
and  studied  the  history  of  tuberculosis  both  in  the 
country  and  in  the  city. 

They  found  that,  as  a  rule,  there  is  more  consump- 
tion in  places  where  people  are  crowded  together  in  dark 
rooms  than  anywhere  else,  and  that  even  here  there  is  the 
greatest  difference  in  special  houses  and  special  rooms. 
This  was  the  case  with  what  is  called  "  Lung  Block " 


THE  FOE  OF  MAN  — TUBERCLE  BACILLUS        121 

in  New  York  City.  Here  during  nine  years  two  hundred 
and  sixty-five  cases  were  reported  to  the  health  depart- 
ment, and  very  many  more  were  unreported.  Single 
rooms  also  told  their  sad  stories. 

Mr.  Ernest  Poole,  who  has  studied  the  subject  thor- 
oughly, gives  the  report  of  one  of  these  rooms  for  seven 
years.  He  says  it  is  on  the  third  floor,  looking  down 
into  a  court,  and  that  in  it  people  died  of  consumption 
steadily,  one  after  the  other. 

1.  A  blind  Scotchman,  in  1894,  had  consumption, 
went  to  the  hospital,  and  died  there. 

2.  His  daughter  had  consumption  and  died. 

3.  One  year  later  a  Jew  was  taken  ill  there  and 
died  in  the  summer. 

4.  A  German  woman  took  the  disease,  died,  and 
left  her  husband  there. 

5.  An  Irishman  was  the  victim.    He  worked  hard, 
caught  the  disease,  fought  against  it  bravely,  but 
died  in  1901. 

Another  house  on  the  East  Side  of  the  city  has  dark 
halls,  where  you  must  grope  your  way  about,  seventy 
small  rooms,  with  almost  no  outside  air  and  light,  and 
an  air  shaft  partly  filled  with  rubbish  and  filth.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  people  live  in  that  house  and  die  fast 
of  consumption.  In  the  middle  apartment,  on  the  second 
floor,  five  families  were  lodged,  one  after  the  other,  for 
four  years.  One  of  the  first  family  died,  two  from  the 


122  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

second,  and  one  from  the  third,  while  two  members  of  the 
fourth  family  died  in  the  hospital  after  leaving  the  place. 

At  the  last  report  a  fifth  family  of  eight  persons  was 
living  in  the  same  rooms,  and  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed 
that  they  will  all  escape  the  fate  of  the  others ;  yet  after 
they  have  lived  there  for  a  while,  after  one  or  two  of 
them  have  died  there  of  consumption  and  the  rest  of  the 
family  have  been  frightened  away,  other  people  will  visit 
the  rooms.  They  will  look  about  and  will  notice  noth- 
ing more  objectionable  than  darkness,  dirt,  and  close 
air.  They  will  discover  no  microbes,  will  suspect  noth- 
ing, will  agree  to  pay  the  rent,  and  will  come  to  the 
rooms  to  live ;  they  will  not  know  that  instead  of  long 
life  there  the  chances  are  that  some  of  them  have  come 
to  those  rooms  to  die  and  not  to  live. 

Now  how  does  it  happen  that,  over  and  over  again, 
after  there  has  been  one  death  from  consumption  in  a 
house,  other  cases  are  almost  sure  to  follow,  and  then 
still  others  again,  for  years  and  years  afterwards? 

The  whole  explanation  is  in  the  power  of  the  microbe, 
the  tubercle  bacillus  itself.  Those  who  examine  the 
room  can,  of  course,  see  no  sign  of  these  microbes,  yet 
there  may  be  millions  of  them  in  the  dust  on  every  side. 
They  may  be  lodged  in  the  cracks  of  the  floor,  may  be 
clinging  to  the  walls  and  the  ceiling,  or  may  be  hidden 
in  the  folds  of  the  curtains.  Often  all  they  need  is  to  be 
stirred  up  by  a  broom  that  has  not  been  dampened,  or 


THE  FOE  OF  MAN  — TUBERCLE  BACILLUS        123 

to  be  flourished  about  with  a  feather  duster;  for  they 
are  thus  tossed  into  the  air  and  are  ready  to  do  their 
mischief. 

As  we  learned  in  Good  Health,  dry  dusting  is  a 
calamity  to  those  who  live  in  any  house,  for  it  simply 
lifts  the  microbes  from  the  spot  where  they  are  quiet  and 
harmless,  and  scatters  them  in  the  air,  where,  until  they 
settle  again,  they  threaten  all  who  breathe  it.  Damp 
dusters  are  therefore  necessary,  and  wet  sawdust  or  torn- 
up  damp  paper  scattered  on  the  floor  before  sweeping 
will  keep  down  these  microbes. 

It  is  not  in  the  city  alone  that  these  microbes  are 
found,  but  any  town  or  country  home  is  able  to  protect 
them  if  they  are  once  scattered  in  it,  while  deep  velvet 
and  plush  are  fine  shelters  for  them.  'After  microbes 
once  reach  a  room,  if  care  is  not  taken  to  disinfect  it 
and  kill  them  they  will  live  there  for  months  and  even 
for  two  years. 

The  very  nature  of  the  microbe  explains  all  this.  It 
has  no  mind.  It  makes  no  plans.  It  simply  lives  on 
when  nothing  kills  it,  and  multiplies  when  it  finds  a  com- 
fortable home.  Yet  it  never  goes  hunting  for  a  home, 
for  it  cannot  move  about  on  its  own  account.  On  the 
contrary,  if  it  is  in  the  air  the  wind  may  drive  it  any- 
where, and  it  will  stay  where  it  is  tossed  until  something 
starts  it  moving  again.  It  is  so  small  that  a  man  may 
breathe  it  with  the  air.  It  may  escape  all  the  cilia  and 


124  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

the  mucus  of  the  air  passages  and  safely  reach  the  spot 
where  it  grows  the  best,  the  lungs  of  a  human  being. 

Here  everything  is  favorable.  The  place  is  warm  and 
moist,  the  delicate  tissue  is  good  ground  to  grow  in,  and 
the  microbe  begins  to  multiply  promptly. 

Yet  there  is  another  side  to  the  situation.  The  lungs 
themselves  seem  to  make  a  protest.  They  like  the  microbe 
no  better  than  a  human  eye  likes  a  bit  of  cinder.  At  once, 
therefore,  certain  cells  of  the  lungs  hurry  to  the  spot, 
surround  the  microbe,  and  try  to  build  themselves  into 
a  wall  about  it.  In  a  way  it  is  a  sort  of  contest,  and  at 
last  the  multiplying  microbes  and  the  cells  are  bunched 
together  in  a  hard  lump  called  a  tubercle. 

Sometimes  the  cells  of  the  lungs  are  vigorous  enough 
to  fasten  the  microbes  up  so  securely  that  they  cannot 
multiply.  In  this  case  they  become  harmless  and  the 
man  does  not  have  consumption.  At  other  times  the 
microbes  prove  to  be  the  stronger  of  the  two.  The  tuber- 
cles then  increase,  the  man's  lungs  gradually  become 
useless,  his  whole  body  being  also  poisoned  by  the  multi- 
plying microbes,  and  finally  he  dies. 

The  danger  to  other  folks  comes  before  that.  It  seems 
that  as  each  tubercle  grows  larger  the  center  of  it  softens, 
and  the  man  coughs  it  up  if  he  can.  This  is  the  sputum 
so  full  of  danger.  Often  it  has  a  yellow  color  and  is 
full  of  the  microbes  themselves.  The  worse  off  a  man  is, 
the  more  he  coughs  and  expectorates ;  while  the  more  he 


THE  FOE  OF  MAN  — TUBERCLE  BACILLUS        125 

expectorates,  the  more  living,  dangerous  microbes  he 
sends  into  the  world. 

Those  who  know  about  it  say  that  a  man  with  con- 
sumption may  expectorate  two  or  three  billion  tubercle 
bacilli  every  twenty-four  hours.  Such  a  man  may  wet 
his  handkerchief  with  the  sputum ;  he  may  get  it  on 
the  sheets  and  clothing ;  and  there,  as  anywhere  else,  it 
dries,  flakes  off,  flies  about,  and  carries  danger. 

Instead  of  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs  young  children 
are  more  apt  to  have  tuberculosis  of  the  bones,  which 
gives  them  crooked  backs  and  hip  disease.  This  is  often 
cured  by  skillful  doctors. 

Fortunately,  however,  no  one  inherits  any  kind  of 
tuberculosis.  To  be  sure,  children  of  consumptive  par- 
ents often  have  it,  but  they  have  every  chance  to  take  it 
after  they  are  born ;  for  they  may  live  in  the  same  house 
with  their  careless,  consumptive  parents,  may  touch  the 
same  things,  breathe  the  same  microbe-laden  air  every 
day,  and  may  even  creep  about  on  the  floor,  where  dust 
and  microbes  are  thickest.  Worse  yet,  without  intend- 
ing the  slightest  harm,  those  parents  may  even  kiss 
their  children  on  the  lips.  They  do  not  know  that  this 
should  never  be  done. 

With  thousands  of  careless  citizens  coughing  and 
expectorating  every  day  for  months  and  for  years,  it  is 
easy  to  understand  how  streets  and  houses,  rooms  and 
people,  all  become  infected ;  for  each  new  case  of  a  person 


126  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

who  is  careless  with  his  sputum  means  more  microbes 
to  shift  about,  and  at  a  moment's  notice  they  are  ready 
to  go  back  into  the  lungs  of  any  human  being  who 
breathes  them.  After  that  the  vigor  of  those  lungs  them- 
selves is  the  only  thing  that  can  save  a  man. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

WAR  AGAINST  THE  ENEMY 

In  1907  the  Maryland  Association  for  the  Prevention 
and  Relief  of  Tuberculosis  passed  through  an  exciting 
campaign.  Its  rally  call  was,  "  Will  you  help  build  the 
fence  ? "  And  for  twenty-three  days  this  mystic  query 

appeared  in  large  letters  on 
every  street  car  in  Balti- 
more, and  on  nearly  every 
blank  wall ;  even  the  ash 
cans  did  not  escape.  At 


WILL   YOU 

HELP 

BUILD    THE 
FENCE 


first  there  was  curiosity  on  the  part  of  those  who  saw 
the  sign ;  next  came  interest ;  and  when  the  meaning  of 
the  question  slipped  out,  when  all  knew  that  it  meant 
a  "  fence  "  of  prevention  to  protect  citizens  against  con- 
sumption, there  was  such  enthusiasm  that  in  less  than 
three  weeks  ten  thousand  dollars  were  raised  for  the 
use  of  the  association  during  1907. 

This  then  is  the  sort  of  warfare  that  is  now  going 
on  in  Maryland  and  elsewhere  in  the  world  to-day.  We 
know  that  each  year  our  invisible  foe  is  killing  more 
human  beings  than  have  been  slain  in  battle  during  the 

past  one  hundred  years.    And  now  that  we  have  actually 

127 


128  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

found  the  foe,  now  that  we  know  both  how  to  kill  him  and 
how  to  protect  ourselves  from  him,  we  are  pledging  our- 
selves to  do  it.  We  know  that  there  are  just  two  ways  by 
means  of  which  the  world  may  banish  tuberculosis : 

1.  By  destroying    the   microbes  which   start   the 
disease. 

2.  By  making  human  bodies  vigorous  enough  to 
resist  the  microbes. 

In  carrying  on  the  campaign,  therefore,  the  triple  motto 
must  be : 

1.  Tuberculosis  is  preventable  ;  we  will  prevent  it. 

2.  Tuberculosis  spreads ;  we  will  check  it. 

3.  Tuberculosis  can  be  cured ;  we  will  cure  it. 
With  this  as  their  motto  men  and  wromen  in  all  lands 

have  joined  hands  in  a  world-wide  anti-tuberculosis  cru- 
sade. They  are  printing  and  distributing  leaflets  by  the 
hundred  thousand  and  the  million,  for  they  are  deter- 
mined that  those  who  are  well  shall  know  how  to  protect 
themselves  from  the  microbes  of  those  who  are  ill,  while 
at  the  same  time  those  who  are  ill  shall  know  enough 
not  to  pass  their  microbes  on  to  others. 

The  sad  fact  is  that  multitudes  of  people  are  ignorant 
both  about  giving  and  about  taking  the  disease.  Never- 
theless it  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  ever  was  that  the  person 
who  breathes  dust  loaded  with  tubercle  bacilli  is  in  danger 
of  tuberculosis,  and  that  the  only  way  to  escape  the  danger 
is  to  keep  the  lungs  healthy  and  not  to  breathe  such  dust. 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  ENEMY  129 

Yet  how  shall  we  keep  from  doing  this  ? 

Careless  people  leave  their  deadly  sputum  in  crowded 
rooms,  cars,  theaters,  stations,  and  saloons.  It  then  passes 
through  all  the  stages  of  drying,  being  crushed,  turned  to 
powder,  and  getting  into  the  air ;  and  afterwards,  in  each 
of  those  places,  people  breathe  the  air  thoughtlessly.  In 
New  York  City  a  man  breathes  anywhere  from  ten  to 
four  hundred  microbes  a  minute,  according  to  the  place 
he  is  in ;  and  the  larger  the  number  the  greater  the  chance 
that  tubercle  bacilli  are  among  them. 

When,  therefore,  you  see  a  man  expectorate  carelessly 
in  public  you  have  a  right  to  say  to  yourself:  "  One  thing 
is  plain,  either  that  man  is  absolutely  ignorant  or  abso- 
lutely selfish ;  either  he  does  not  know  the  laws  of  health, 
the  laws  of  the  microbe,  and  the  laws  of  the  city  against 
spitting,  or  he  is  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  giving  a  deadly 
disease  to  his  fellow-citizens." 

Of  course  it  is  true  that  saliva  without  tubercle  bacilli 
in  it  can  do  no  harm ;  but  cities  know,  as  we  do,  that 
what  a  well  man  does  the  ill  man  is  sure  to  do.  For  this 
reason  laws  against  spitting  cover  every  citizen,  young 
and  old,  well  or  ill.  Many  cities  post  their  laws  in  cars, 
stations,  and  all  public  places,  and  they  enforce  them 
or  not  according  to  their  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  their 
citizens.  Here  is  a  New  York  notice : 

Spitting  on  the  floor  of  this  car  is  a  misdemeanor.  A  fine  of  $500,  or 
imprisonment  for  one  year,  or  both,  may  be  the  punishment  therefor. 


130  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Some  cities  are  so  much  in  earnest  about  this  matter 
that  men  in  tall  silk  hats  as  well  as  those  in  shabby  derbies 
have  been  fined  for  breaking  the  law. 

A  few  years  ago  no  one  protested  when  a  man  left  his 
saliva  on  the  sidewalk  or  floor  of  a  car  or  station.  It  was 
so  common  that  almost  no  one  even  noticed  the  spitting. 
Now,  however,  the  man  who  spits  is  seen  by  a  dozen 
different  people  at  once,  and  each  one  looks  upon  him  as 
either  a  deserter  from  the  camp  of  good  citizens  or  as  a 
friend  of  the  enemy. 

For  his  own  sake,  therefore,  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of 
his  city,  each  loyal  citizen  should  practice  the  following 
rules  of  prevention.  By  so  doing  he  will  prove  his  loyalty. 

1.  Never  spit  in  a  place  where  sputum  may  dry 
and  get  into  the  air. 

2.  Use  paper  or  cloth  and  burn  the  sputum  before 
it  dries,  or  else  use  a  spittoon  that  has  water  in  it  to 
prevent  the  microbes  from  drying  and  floating  around 
in  the  air.  Such  spittoons  should  be  properly  cleaned. 

3.  If  there  is  a  persistent  cough  and  a  good  deal 
of  sputum,  tell  the  doctor  about  it.    He  will  have 
the  sputum  examined. 

Every  doctor  in  the  land  knows  how  important  this 
last  point  is,  for  the  secret  of  curing  consumption  is 
to  discover  it  when  it  first  begins,  and  the  only  possible 
way  to  do  this  is  to  examine  the  sputum  for  tubercle 
bacilli. 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  ENEMY  131 

Tuberculosis  of  the  lungs  is  really  somewhat  like  a 
fire  in  a  lumberyard.  If  the  fire  is  discovered  when  it 
first  starts,  a  single  pail  of  water  will  dash  it  out ;  but  if 
it  is  left  until  the  whole  lumberyard  is  blazing,  even  the 
fire  department  cannot  be  of  any  help. 

So  too  with  tuberculosis.  Three  quarters  of  the  cases 
found  early  and  taken  care  of  are  cured,  while  the 
cure  itself  is  often  as  simple  as  the  fire  cure,  although 
in  the  case  of  consumption  four  things  are  needed  in- 
stead of  one : 

1.  Fresh  air  from  morning  until  night  and  from 
night  until  morning. 

2.  Sunshine. 

3.  Wholesome  food,  with  an  abundance  of  fresh 
milk  and  eggs. 

4.  Rest  for  body  and  mind. 

If  the  patient  discovers  the  disease  soon  after  he  takes 
it,  and  if  he  can  get  those  four  things,  he  will  probably 
recover ;  if  he  cannot  get  them  he  will  probably  die. 

Consumptives  who  are  careful  about  their  sputum  are 
not  in  danger  of  giving  consumption  to  others.  They 
may  live  under  the  same  roof  with  them,  wrork  side  by 
side  at  the  same  bench,  breathe  the  same  air  from  day  to 
day,  and  yet,  from  first  to  last,  if  they  destroy  every  drop 
of  their  sputum  other  people  are  not  in  danger.  As 
tubercle  bacilli  never  fly  away  from  a  damp  surface  they 
stay  in  the  throat  and  air  tubes  of  a  consumptive  and  do 


132  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

not  get  into  his  breath  unless  he  breathes  hard  or  sneezes. 
If  he  does  either  of  those  things  he  should  hold  a  cloth 
before  his  mouth  and  burn  it  immediately,  or  have  it  boiled. 

Any  citizen  with  a  vigorous  body  is  best  able  to  resist 
every  sort  of  disease  microbe.  To  secure  this  body  let 
each  of  us  learn  to  shun  what  have  been  called  the  five 
tuberculosis  D's — dirt,  darkness,  dampness,  dust,  and 
drink.  Let  us  also  practice  the  golden  rule  of  the  anti- 
tuberculosis  leagues : 

Don't  give  consumption  to  others. 

Don't  let  others  give  consumption  to  you. 

Those  who  understand  tuberculosis  best  speak  very 
positively  about  using  medicines  for  it.  They  say : 

1.  No  medicine  has  yet  been  found  that  will  cure 
consumption. 

2.  Advertised    medicines    often    contain    alcohol, 
which  hastens  consumption. 

3.  No  person  with  consumption  can  afford  to  run 
the  risk  of  taking  any  advertised  medicine. 

4.  In  taking  medicine  a  consumptive  should  go 
by  the  advice  of  a  good  doctor. 

Then  too,  from  first  to  last  they  should  seek  those 
four  best  things, —  fresh  air,  sunshine,  wholesome  food, 
and  rest.  The  more  successful  one  is  in  securing  these 
things  the  more  speedy  will  recovery  be. 

In  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  city  men  need  to  know 
both  how  to  prevent  tuberculosis  and  how  to  cure  it  if  it 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  ENEMY  133 

has  made  a  start.  The  wisest  of  them  will  see  to  it  that 
windows  are  open  in  their  homes,  their  shops,  and  their 
schoolhouses.  They  will  keep  them  open  by  night  as 
well  as  by  day,  for  they  will  know  that  less  dust  is  being 
stirred  up  at  night  arid  that  night  air  is,  therefore,  the 
best  air  to  be  had. 


FRESH  AIR  IN  A  CITY 


At  the  same  time  they  will  make  sure  that  their  bodies 
are  warmly  covered  when  they  sleep  in  cold  rooms  full 
of  fresh  air.  A  quick,  inexpensive  way  to  get  extra  cover- 
ing is  to  sew  newspapers  between  blankets.  Paper  does, 
in  fact,  keep  cold  out  so  well  that  in  some  places  paper 
blankets  are  manufactured,  and  they  can  be  bought  by 
the  dozen  for  very  little  money.  Keeping  warm  enough 
and  breathing  fresh  air  must  go  hand  in  hand. 


134 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 


In  a  city  even  hospitals  have  trouble  in  giving  a  man 
all  the  air  he  needs.  Windows  are  kept  open  and  reclin- 
ing chairs  are  put  on  the  roof  for  certain  patients  to  use. 
Other  patients  breathe  fresh  air  even  in  bed,  for  the  cot 
itself,  with  the  man  on  it,  is  thrust  through  an  open 
window  into  the  air  and  sunshine.  Other  devices  help, 


A  TENT  COLONY 
Air  and  sunshine  to  cure  consumption 

but  a  sanatorium  or  a  tent  in  the  country  is  best  of  all 
because  in  such  places  every  needed  thing  is  at  hand. 

Some  consumptives  go  even  farther  than  tents,  and 
actually  sleep  out  of  doors  in  midwinter. 

Dr.  Irving  Fisher  says  that  he  did  this  when  the  tem- 
perature was  ten  degrees  below  zero.  He  also  says  that 
in  the  winter  of  1904,  in  the  Adirondack  Cottage  Sana- 
torium, six  people  slept  out  doors  when  the  temperature 
was  thirty  degrees  below  zero.  They  had  two  or  three 
mattresses  under  them,  warm  blankets  and  comforters 


WAR  AGAINST  THE  ENEMY  135 

over  them,  heavy  night  clothes  about  them,  and  also 
woolen  "  head  gear  "  with  an  opening  for  the  nose. 

Each  person  knew  that  the  more  fresh  air  he  could 
get  the  more  chance  he  had  to  live.  It  even  seemed  as 
if  the  colder  the  air  the  better  he  felt. 

It  is  because  of  these  facts  that  what  are  called  open- 
air  classes  are  springing  up  in  many  places.  Those  who 
start  the  classes  know  that  every  chance  for  life  and 
health  is  increased  for  children  if  those  who  have  been 
attacked  by  tubercle  bacilli  can  do  their  studying  out  of 
doors  and  not  within  the  four  walls  of  a  schoolroom. 

In  this  great  anti-tuberculosis  war,  cities  are  sure  to 
be  victorious  in  the  end,  but  how  soon  the  end  will  come 
depends  on  whether  or  not  the  children  of  the  world 
understand  how  serious  the  danger  is,  and  whether  or 
not  they  are  willing  to  join  the  forces  that  fight  tubercu- 
losis in  every  land. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE 

What  a  man  eats  and  drinks  is  so  important  to  the 
welfare  of  his  body  that  the  following  facts  about  drinks 
which  many  people  use  every  day  cannot  be  omitted 
from  a  practical  book  on  hygiene. 

Chemists  say  that  in  these  days  he  who  uses  an  alco- 
holic beverage,  whether  as  a  drink  or  as  a  tonic,  cannot 
know  what  he  is  really  taking.  He  has  paid  for  some- 
thing which  contains  alcohol,  to  be  sure,  but  startling 
revelations  have  been  made  about  that  which  he  may 
have  received  in  its  place. 

In  1906  Dr.  Warren,  who  was  State  Food  Commis- 
sioner for  Pennsylvania  at  the  time,  made  an  official 
statement  in  which  he  said: 

Out  of  600  samples  of  alcoholic  liquors  450  samples  were  found  to 
be  adulterated.  Wood  alcohol,  causing  nerve  atrophy,  convulsions,  im- 
paired vision,  blindness,  and  even  death ;  salicylic  acid,  causing  intestinal 
derangements,  dyspepsia,  and  kidney  diseases ;  coal-tar  dyes  that  are 
active  poisons  and  that  cause  diseases  of  the  digestive  tracts ;  sulphites 
that  have  the  same  effect ;  red  pepper  and  other  powerful  irritants,  — 
are  some  of  the  adulterations  which  lurk  in  many  thousands  of  bottles 
and  kegs  of  whisky,  wine,  beer,  and  other  intoxicants  that  undoubtedly 
will  be  placed  on  sale  within  the  next  year.  The  flood  of  this  poisonous 

136 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE     137 

stuff  has  just  commenced.  A  new  legislature  will  not  meet  until  January, 
1907.  It  is  necessary,  in  the  meantime,  that  public  attention  be  called 
to  the  dangers  that  lie  in  the  use  of  adulterated  drinks. 

On  the  1 5th  of  April,  1907,  the  general  manager  of  the 
St.  Louis  Wholesale  Liquor  Association  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  liquor  trade  in  which  he  said : 

We  retail  dealers  have  allowed  the  "  reduction  rogues "  to  swindle 
us  out  of  millions  by  substituting  for  good  whisky,  which  we  paid  them 
for,  a  compound  that  would  kill  a  horse  if  he  drank  it.  We  have  unwit- 
tingly sold  this  accursed  poison  to  the  youth  and  the  flower  of  our  man- 
hood, many  of  whom  have  been  crazed,  have  lost  their  manhood,  their 
honor,  and  their  all,  because  they  drank  it.  Their  mothers,  their  sisters, 
their  fathers,  their  brothers,  and  their  friends  are  driving"  us  retailers 
out  of  business. 

Perhaps  we  wonder  why  alcoholic  drinks  should  ever  be 
adulterated.  One  simple  fact  helps  explain  the  situation. 

All  the  wine-producing  districts  of  America  and 
Europe  combined  do  not  supply  enough  of  the  different 
kinds  of  wines  to  meet  the  demands  of  those  who  wish 
to  use  them.  But  water  is  cheap;  it  is  therefore  added 
for  bulk,  and  such  drugs  are  put  in  as  will  give  the 
desired  taste  and  at  the  same  time  make  a  man  feel  as 
alcohol  itself  makes  him  feel  after  he  drinks  it.  Sadly 
enough  for  the  one  who  drinks,  few  things  but  poison 
can  accomplish  this  last  result. 

Those  who  understand  the  danger  which  lurks  in  alco- 
hol may  be  inclined  to  ask  if,  after  all,  the  water  and  the 


138  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

drugs  do  not  make  a  safer  mixture  for  a  man  than  the 
drink  which  holds  more  alcohol.  The  answer  is  that  such 
poisons  as  are  used  in  adulterating  alcoholic  drinks  are 
often  even  more  violent  and  more  harmful  to  the  body 
than  alcohol  itself. 

Some  time  ago  the  legislature  of  Ohio  asked  Dr.  Hiram 
Cox,  a  distinguished  chemist,  to  make  a  thorough  exami- 
nation of  alcoholic  liquors.  He  worked  on  the  subject 
for  two  years  and  in  a  letter  afterwards  said : 

I  have  made  over  six  hundred  inspections  of  stores  and  lots  of  liquors 
of  every  variety,  and  now  positively  assert  that  over  ninety  per  cent  of 
all. that  I  have  analyzed  were  adulterated  with  the  most  pernicious  and 
poisonous  ingredients. 

Another  letter  says : 

I  called  at  a  grocery  one  day  where  liquor  was  being  sold.  A  couple 
of  men  came  in  while  I  was  there,  and  called  for  some  whisky.  The 
first  one  drank,  and  the  moment  he  drank  the  tears  flowed  freely,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  caught  his  breath  like  one  suffocating  or  strangling. 
The  second  man  drank  and  went  through  like  contortions.  After  they 
had  left  I  asked  the  proprietor  to  pour  me  out  a  little  in  my  tumbler. 
I  went  to  my  office,  got  my  apparatus,  and  examined  it.  I  found  it 
seventeen  per  cent  alcoholic  spirits  when  it  should  have  been  fifty,  and 
the  difference  in  percentage  was  made  up  by  sulphuric  acid,  red  pepper, 
pellitory,  brucine,  and  strychnine. 

In  commenting  about  it  he  says,  "  One  pint  of  such 
liquor  at  one  time  will  kill  the  strongest  man." 

Judging  by  its  name  our  port  wine  comes  from  Oporto, 
Portugal.  But  Mr.  Cyrus  Redding  once  made  a  report 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE     139 

on  the  subject  to  a  committee  appointed  by  the  House 
of  Commons,  England.  He  said  that  every  year  Oporto 
exports  20,000  pipes1  of  wine,  but  that  England  alone 
uses  60,000  pipes  of  this  same  wine  each  year.  Where, 
then,  does  the  vast  quantity  of  port  wine  come  from  that 
is  used  in  the  rest  of  Europe  and  in  America  ? 

Mr.  Redding  shows  that  this  is  the  manufactured  re- 
sult of  what  has  passed  from  hand  to  hand  through  the 
wholesale  and  the  retail  dealers.  Water,  poisons,  coloring 
matter ;  more  water,  more  poison,  and  more  color,  —  these 
mark  the  steps  of  its  progress,  until  the  combination  of 
water  and  chemicals  is  finally  sold  as  fine  port  wine  im- 
ported from  Portugal. 

From  first  to  last  the  work  of  concealment  is  so  well 
done  that  even  an  expert  cannot  tell  by  taste,  smell,  or 
color  that  it  is  a  dangerous  compound  of  chemicals.  A 
chemist,  however,  with  his  apparatus,  can  always  find  the 
poisons. 

These  facts,  which  no  one  thinks  of  denying,  do  not 
mean  that  those  who  use  alcohol  are  in  danger  of  being 
killed  suddenly  by  it.  We  ourselves  know  that  this  is  not 
true.  Multitudes  of  people  drink  more  or  less  frequently 
throughout  their  lives,  and  almost  never  does  even  a 
newspaper  reporter  hear  of  a  man  who  has  dropped  dead 
because  he  drank.  If  he  should  hear  of  such  a  case  he 
would  certainly  report  it  at  once. 

1  One  pipe  is  equal  to  126  gallons. 


140  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

No,  the  newspaper  reporter  is  not  the-  one  to  go  to 
when  we  wish  to  know  about  the  life-and-death  results 
of  drinking.  To  get  such  facts  we  study  the  statistical 
tables  of  life  insurance  societies.  There  we  find  that  he 
who  uses  alcohol  reduces  his  chance  for  life  by  weaken- 
ing the  power  of  his  body  to  resist  disease  microbes.1 

A  chemist  is  able  to  show  how  alcohol  is  formed  even 
in  some  most  carefully  prepared  homemade  drinks.  A 
friend  of  ours  once  said:  "  I  never  use  alcohol  in  any  shape. 
For  the  sake  of  making  sure  about  it  I  even  put  up  my 
own  wine  from  grapes  that  grow  on  our  farm,  and  we 
have  cider  which  we  make  ourselves,  from  our  own 
apples,  ground  up  in  our  own  cider  mill."  Then  with  a 
happy  smile  she  added,  "  So  you  see  no  one  has  the  ghost 
of  a  chance  to  put  a  drop  of  alcohol  into  anything  we  use." 

As  this  friend  talked  a  chemist  who  listened  grew 
more  and  more  astonished.  By  every  word  she  spoke 
he  saw  that  she  knew  absolutely  nothing  about  the  way 
in  which  alcohol  is  formed  from  fruit  juice  and  from 
grains.  Naturally,  therefore,  when  she  asked  for  his 
opinion  about  homemade  drinks  it  was  her  turn  to  grow 
astonished,  for  he  gave  her  a  few  chemical  facts  which 
showed  that  in  her  innocent  ignorance  she  herself  was 
making  alcoholic  drinks  and  giving  them  to  her  equally 
innocent  and  ignorant  family.  I  give  a  few  of  the  facts. 
Every  chemist  will  vouch  for  them. 

1  A  good  deal  is  said  about  this  in  Town  and  City,  Chapter  XI. 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE     141 

1.  If  fruit  juice  is  boiled,  bottled  securely  while  hot, 
and  kept  in  a  cool  place,  no  alcohol  will  be  formed 
in  it.    Even  after  several  years  the  juice  will  be  as 
sweet  and  as  free  from  alcohol  as  when  it  was  put  up. 
Unfermented  wine  is  made  and  kept  in  this  way. 

2.  Fruit  juice  that  is  unboiled  and  left  exposed  to 
the  air  ferments ;    and  this  fermenting  is  a  process 
that  produces  alcohol.    Even  if  the  juice  has  been 
boiled,  if  it  is  left  so  that  air  can  get  to  it,  alcohol 
will  be  produced  in  it  before  long. 

3.  Any  fruit  juice  that  begins  to  ferment  before  it 
is  bottled  will  have  alcohol  in  it  when  it  is  opened 
for  use.    The  same  is  true  of  all  kinds  of  beer. 

The  explanation  of  these  three  facts  is  as  follows : 
Sugar  —  that  is,  sweetness  —  is  found  in  all  ripe  fruit  and 
in  much  that  is  unripe.  When  this  sugar  is  kept  wet  and 
warm  and  exposed  to  the  air  and  to  ferment  microbes, 
called  yeast  cells,  which  are  in  the  air,  it  is  gradually 
changed  by  the  microbes  into  two  things,  carbon  dioxid 
and  alcohol.  These  two  substances  are  present,  then,  in 
all  wine,  cider,  beer,  and  similar  drinks,  whether  they  are 
made  at  home  or  elsewhere.  In  fact,  the  place  where 
drinks  are  made  makes  no  difference  whatever  in  the 
amount  of  alcohol  that  is  formed  in  them.  Sugar  in  the 
liquid  and  microbes  of  ferment  in  the  air  explain  the  whole 
process.  Beer  is  made  from  grain  which  is  kept  in  a  warm, 
moist  place  until  it  is  well  sprouted.  This  is  necessary 


142  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

because  the  process  of  sprouting  turns  the  starch  of  the 
grain  into  sugar.  From  this  point  onward  the  fermenting 
is  the  same  for  drinks  made  from  fruit  juice  and  from 
grain.  Root  beer  is  made  by  putting  sugar  into  a  liquid 
made  chiefly  from  roots.  This  ferments  and  we  have 
root  beer  with  its  alcohol. 

A  bottle  of  champagne  pops  when  you  open  it.  Why  ? 
Because  ever  since  the  cork  was  put  in  ferment  microbes 
have  been  changing  the  sugar  of  the  liquid  into  carbon 
dioxid  gas  and  alcohol.  And  now  when  the  cork  is 
loosened  the  gas  within  drives  it  out  with  a  bang.  Carbon 
dioxid  is  harmless  in  a  drink,  but  alcohol  is  just  as  harm- 
ful in  homemade  wine  and  beer  as  in  any  that  is  bought. 
Beware,  therefore,  of  the  danger  when  you  meet  it.  If 
fruit  juice  has  not  been  boiled  and  bottled  promptly, 
or  even  if  it  has  been  boiled,  if  it  is  allowed  to  stand 
open  so  that  air  can  get  to  it,  it  will  contain  the  alcohol 
which  you  wish  to  shun. 

Aside  from  alcoholic  drinks,  however,  chemists  find 
that  many  patent  medicines  also  contain  opium,  cocaine, 
alcohol,  and  other  strong  poisons.  And  just  because  these 
poisons  are  so  powerful  the  innocent  victim  may  find 
comfort  for  a  season.  His  nerves  may  be  quieted,  his  pain 
relieved,  but  later  comes  the  curse.  That  which  seemed 
so  helpful  often  ends  by  hastening  the  progress  of  the  dis- 
ease it  was  supposed  to  cure.  This  is  especially  true  of 
consumption.  Or,  instead,  the  drug  habit  may  be  formed 


ADULTERATED  ALCOHOL  AND  PATENT  MEDICINE     143 

through  medicine,  and  a  man  may  discover  too  late  that 
he  is  doomed. 

Chemists  testify  that  most  medicines  which  go  by  the 
name  of  "tonics,"  "bitters,"  and  relievers  of  pain  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  contain  a  large  per  cent  of  alcohol.  Often  as 
much  as  one  quarter  of  the  entire  liquid  in  the  bottle  is 
alcohol. 

In  view  of  their  disclosures  these  men  and  others  have 
insisted  that  innocent  people  should  not  be  cheated  into 
the  use  of  any  poison  through  ignorance  of  what  they  are 
buying.  These  scientists  have  indeed  been  so  much  in 
earnest  and  so  active  in  their  agitation  of  the  subject  that 
at  last  the  United  States  government  has  passed  a  law 
which  helps  the  case  greatly.  It  demands  that  the  names 
of  every  poison  in  a  bottle  of  patent  medicine  shall  be 
printed  plainly  on  a  label  and  pasted  on  the  bottle.  The 
amount  of  alcohol  must  also  be  stated  on  the  same  label. 

If  a  bottle  of  patent  medicine  bears  no  such  label  it  is 
evident  that  its  contents  hide  neither  alcohol  nor  poison ; 
it  has  no  confession  to  make.  If  there  is  a  label,  remem- 
ber that  as  a  rule  each  name  on  it  stands  for  a  poison. 

He  who  is  unwise  enough  to  buy  patent  medicine 
should  balance  his  mistake  by  being  wise  enough  to  study 
the  label  before  he  uses  the  contents  of  the  bottle. 


CHAPTER  XX 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING 

* 

It  was  a  novel  thing  in  the  history  of  the  world  for 
men  who  were  connected  with  a  national  army  to  serve 
their  country  by  being  used  as  a  sort  of  laboratory  for 
food  experiments.  But  this  was  done  by  certain  soldiers 
of  the  United  States  army  in  the  year  1903. 


HttH-Hi 


SOLDIERS  WHO  SERVED  ON  THE  EATING  EXPERIMENTS 

Professor  Chittenden  of  Yale  University  had  decided 
to  conduct  some  scientific  experiments  on  a  rather  large 
scale.  He  began  with  himself,  enlisted  the  help  of  others, 
and  finally  had  in  hand  thirteen  soldiers  whose  ages  ranged 
from  twenty-two  years  and  six  months  to  forty-three  years. 

Close  attention  was  given  to  the  men  in  several  ways. 

At  quarter  of  seven  each  morning  they  were  weighed. 

144 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  145 

This  was  necessary,  for  they  were  eating  about  half  as 
much  meat  as  usual,  with  somewhat  less  of  other  kinds 
of  food,  and  it  was  important  to  know  each  day  whether 
they,  were  gaining  or  losing  by  the  new  course  of  diet. 

At  seven  came  breakfast.  Here  each  separate  kind  of 
food  was  weighed  before  it  was  given  to  the  man  who 
was  to  eat  it.  What  he  did  not  eat  was  also  weighed, 
that  Dr.  Chittenden  might  know  just  how  much  had 
been  used.  Moreover,  these  men  were  allowed  to  eat 
only  such  food  as  was  served  to  them.  In  other  words, 
for  each  meal  they  were  told  when  to  eat,  what  to  eat, 
and  how  much  to  eat.  All  eating  between  meals  was 
strictly  forbidden. 

Aside  from  this  close  care  about  their  food  the  men 
were  not  hampered  in  many  ways.  ^They  went  to  the 
theater  sometimes,  worked  in  the  Yale  gymnasium  an 
hour  a  day,  had  regular  drill  under  their  officers,  and 
went  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock. 

No  doubt  the  whole  affair  grew  monotonous  at  times, 
and  it  has  been  said  that  a  few  of  the  men  were  inclined 
to  protest  against  it.  On  the  whole,  however,  they  went 
through  it  without  hesitation,  and  when  they  left  New 
Haven  at  the  end  of  six  months  Dr.  Anderson,  director 
of  the  gymnasium,  wrote  about  them  as  follows: 

The  men  were  not  above  the  average  standard  physically  when  they 
began  their  work,  this  standard  being  set  by  applicants  for  positions  as 
firemen  and  policemen,  not  by  college  students.  At  the  end  of  the 


146  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

training  they  were  much  above  the  same  standard,  while  the  strength 
tests  were  far  greater  than  the  averages  made  by  college  men. 

These  tests  did  not  settle  all  food  questions,  but  they 
seemed  to  make  it  clear  that  even  soldiers  may  gain 
strength  on  much  less  meat  than  they  have  been  in  the 


TEN  OF  THE  SOLDIERS  TAKING  EXERCISE  IN  THE  GYMNASIUM 

habit  of  eating.  As  for  the  rest  of  us,  science  has  proved 
that  the  work  of  the  body  is  closely  related  to  the  food 
we  give  it,  that  the  kind  of  food  makes  a  difference  in 
the  quality  of  the  w7ork,  that  he  who  works  little  harms 
himself  when  he  eats  much,  and  that  growing  children 
need  much  more  food  than  their  inactive  elders. 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  147 

All  scientists  agree  that  food  does  two  things  for 
the  body : 

1.  Food  builds  tissue;  that  is,  it  makes  the  body 
grow  by  adding  fresh  tissue,  and  it  keeps  the  body 

,   new  by  replacing  all  tissues  as  fast  as  they  wear  out. 

2.  Food  produces  energy  by  which  the  body  does 
work  and  keeps  itself  warm.   Food  so  used  is  the 
fuel  for  our  engines. 

We  eat,  then,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  one  or  the 
other  of  these  two  great  demands  of  the  body,  and  our 
success  or  failure  in  life  may  easily  turn  on  what  we 
know  or  do  not  know  about  the  value  of  our  food. 

When  Professor  Chittenden  planned  meals  for  his 
soldiers  his  main  thought  was  not  as  to  whether  he 
should  give  them  beefsteak,  mutton  chops,  fish,  eggs, 
bread,  or  vegetables,  but  whether  or  not  he  was  giving 
them  the  right  proportions  of  certain  substances  which 
living  bodies  need  if  they  are  to  do  good  work.  This 
would  be  easier  to  understand  if  our  bodies  were  blocked 
off  in  patches,  with  each  separate  substance  firmly  held 
in  a  special  district  of  its  own.  In  point  of  fact,  however, 
the  few  general  materials  out  of  which  our  bodies  are 
built  are  so  closely  intermixed  with  each  other  in  blood 
and  tissue  that  only  the  chemist  can  separate  them.  The 
next  page  shows  his  work  in  a  table  which  is  made  up 
from  the  reports  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture.  It  shows  how  the  materials  which  the  body 


148  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

FOOD  SUBSTANCES  AS  FOUND  IN  DIFFERENT  ARTICLES  OF  DiET1 


PROTEID 

CARBO- 
HYDRATE 

FAT 

WATER 

MINERAL 
MATTER 

Bread    

89 

c.6y 

4  I 

2Q.2 

I.I 

Wheat  flour  

7  I.Q 

I.Q 

1  1.4. 

I 

Oatmeal     

16  i 

/i.y 
67.1; 

7.2 

7.-? 

I.Q 

Rice  

8 

70 

O.I 

12.1 

0.4 

Green  peas 

7 

16  Q 

O  ? 

i^.j 

74  6 

Potatoes 

2  C. 

2O  Q 

wo 

O  I 

7  c  c 

I  O 

Milk      

**J| 

•7    -J 

c 

4. 

/  JO 
87 

O  7 

Cheese            ... 

J-J 

2C  Q 

2.4 

•5-5  7 

14.  ^ 

1.8 

Roast  beef     

22  1 

28'6 

48.'' 

i  -? 

2C 

22.6 

CQ.Q 

1.2 

Veal  

21.2 

8.0 

70.  1 

I 

Chicken 

21  C 

2  tl 

74  8 

I  i 

Canned  salmon 

">!  8 

*'-J 

6l  C 

26 

Esfcr 

I  1  4 

IOC 

^JO 

71  7 

I  O 

Butter 

M-4 
I  O 

iwO 

8« 

j  i 

-? 

Fresh  oysters  (solid)    .     .     . 
Macaroni 

6 

I  -?  A 

3-3 

74  I 

i-3 

O  Q 

88.3 
IO  1 

I.I 
I  1 

Oyster  crackers  

1J'H 

"•3 

;8 

70.5 
61  ; 

10.5 

Q 

4.8 

188 

2.9 
2.Q 

Sponge  cake  

6.1 

"JO 

6s.  Q 

IO  7 

I  C..1 

1.8 

Apple  pie 

3i 

4^8 

08 

42   C 

i  8 

Squash  pie 

•l 

A    A 

217 

81 

4^-i> 

64  2 

i  i 

Tapioca  pudding     .... 
Fresh  asparagus      .... 

3-3 
1.8 

22  C 

28.2 

3-3 

CQ  6 

3-2 

O.2 

i  8 

64.5 

94 

12  6 

0.8 
0.7 

1    !? 

\i 

5.6 

o  ^ 

QI    C. 

I 

i-i 

IQ  7 

I.I 

7  ^.4 

O.7 

24.6 

62 

Q  ? 

2.Q 

Fresh  tomatoes  . 

o  o 

•5    Q 

O  4 

Q4  1 

O  C 

Bananas          .     .          . 

I  1 

j-y 

°2 

06 

7  c  7 

WO 

08 

Fresh  cranberries    .... 
Dried  prunes  

••J 

0.4 

2  I 

.   9-9 
7-?  -j 

0.6 

ill 

2^  1 

O.2 
2  1 

Almonds 

21  O 

17  7 

r  A   Q 

4  8 

2  O 

Peanuts      
Brazil  nuts 

25.8 
I  7  O 

1/'J 
24.4 

7  O 

as:? 

668 

9.2 
5-5 

2.O 
1  Q 

Soft-shell  walnuts    .... 

1  6.6 

16.1 

634 

•J 

2.5 

J-v 
1.4 

1  Notice  that  some  of  the  substances  in  the  table  are  moist  while  others  are  dry ;  and  re- 
member that  before  many  of  the  dry  foods  are  eaten  a  great  deal  of  water  is  added  to  them. 
This  is  notably  true  of  the  cereals,  of  rice,  and  of  flour.  For  example,  what  we  buy  as  one 
pound  of  rice  at  the  grocer's  comes  to  the  table  as  nearly  four  pounds  of  moist  food.  The 
chief  difference  between  dry  and  moist  foods  is  simply  that  when  we  eat  dry  foods  we  take 
less  of  the  food  and  more  water.  Vegetables,  fruit,  meat,  milk,  eggs,  puddings,  and  pies  are 
moist  foods.  See  the  quantity  of  water  in  them  which  the  table  shows. 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  149 

THE  SAME  FOOD  SUBSTANCES  SHOWN  IN  A  DIFFERENT  WAY1 


P  R  O  T  E I D      CARBOHYDRATE 


MINERAL  MATTER 


Bread       .     . 
Wheat  flour 
Oatmeal 
Rice    .     .     . 
Green  peas  . 
Potatoes .     . 
Milk 
Cheese    .     .     . 
Roast  beef  .     . 
Leg  of  mutton . 
Veal    .... 
Chicken  . 
Canned  salmon 
Egg    .... 
Butter 
Fresh  oysters  .     . 
Macaroni 
Oyster  crackers 
Gingerbread 
Sponge  cake 
Apple  pie 
Squash  pie  .     .     . 
Tapioca  pudding  . 
Fresh  asparagus  . 
Dried  beans     .     . 
Fresh  cabbage 
Green  corn  .     .     . 
Dried  peas  .     .     . 
Fresh  tomatoes     . 
Bananas .     .     .     . 
Fresh  cranberries 
Dried  prunes   . 
Almonds      .     .     . 
Peanuts  .     .     .     . 
Brazil  nuts  .     .     . 
Soft-shell  walnuts 


^^ 


1  These  tables  are  made  up  from  facts  supplied  by  Bulletin  28  (revised  edition)  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 


150  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

must  have  are  distributed  in  some  of  the  foods  we  eat. 
In  this  table  the  single  word  "carbohydrate"  is  used  in- 
stead of  the  two  words  "sugar"  and  "starch." 

Look  over  the  long  list,  which  is  only  for  reference  and 
not  to  be  memorized,  and  notice  that  our  entire  supply 
of  food  comes  from  living  and  growing  things ;  that  is, 
from  plants  or  from  animals.  Plants  gather  nourishment 
for  themselves  from  earth  and  air  and  water.  Animals 
cannot  do  this.  Instead,  by  their  nature  they  must  live 
either  on  the  flesh  of  other  animals  or  on  material  which 
plants  have  gathered  and  stored  up  for  their  own  use. 

This  fact  gives  an  added  interest  to  the  table  of  foods. 
Notice  that  in  every  case  the  animal  food  is  rich  in  pro- 
teid,  and  be  ready  to  remember  that  proteid  is  the  food 
substance  which  builds  the  tissues  of  the  body.  That  is, 
when  muscle  is  broken  down  through  exercise  proteid 
is  used  to  build  it  up  again. 

Notice  also  that  the  plant  foods  in  this  table  are  rich 
in  carbohydrates,  and  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  carbo- 
hydrates are  the  food  substances  which  produce  energy, 
by  which  the  body  does  its  work  and  keeps  itself  warm. 
Proteid  also  helps  in  both  these  directions. 

When  more  carbohydrate  is  eaten  than  is  called  for 
by  the  work  of  the  body,  the  surplus  is  stored  up  as  fat ; 
and  this  fat  is  as  important  to  the  body  for  use  in  times 
of  "extra  pressure  as  is  money  in  the  bank  for  a  man  who 
may  at  some  time  need  more  money  than  he  has  in  hand. 


EXPERIMENTS   IN   EATING  151 

Too  much  fat  is,  however,  a  disadvantage,  for  an  over- 
supply  reduces  the  power  of  the  muscles. 

When  more  proteid  is  eaten  than  the  body  can  use, 
the  surplus  is  sent  off  through  the  kidneys.  Those  who 
eat  too  much  meat  often  overtax  their  kidneys  to  such 
an  extent  that  they  suffer  from  rheumatism  and  gout. 
More  is  said  about  this  in  a  later  chapter. 

A  baby  grows  fast  and  takes  little  exercise ;  hence  his 
food,  milk,  contains  both  proteid  and  carbohydrate. 
Later  on  the  same  child  will  be  a  man ;  he  will  then 
grow  little  and  exercise  much,  and  will  therefore  need 
several  times  as  much  carbohydrate  (fuel  food)  as  pro- 
teid (tissue  food). 

Study  the  table  of  foods  carefully  and  decide  which 
articles  may  be  wisely  put  together  for  the  same  meal. 
Professor  Chittenden  himself  had  these  food  substances 
in  mind  when  he  planned  meals  for  the  soldiers.  He 
knew  that  all  kinds  of  meat  and  some  kinds  of  vegeta- 
bles are  rich  in  proteids,  that  grains  and  vegetables  are 
specially  rich  in  sugar  and  starch  (carbohydrates),  that 
mineral  matter  which  we  need  comes  in  table  salt  and  is 
also  found  in  most  meats  and  vegetables.  And  he  saw, 
as  we  do,  that  the  great  food  questions  turn  upon  the 
proteids  and  the  carbohydrates.  In  giving  directions 
therefore,  he  was  careful  to  order  a  mixed  diet  of  carbo- 
hydrates and  proteids  for  the  same  meal.  When,  for  ex- 
ample, he  selected  beans,  cheese,  or  eggs,  he  gave  little 


152 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


if  any  meat;  instead  he  provided  foods  rich  in  starch 
or  sugar,  with  vegetables  and  fruit,  for  example,  or  with 

some  simple  sweet  dessert. 

Housekeepers  succeed 
best  when  they  too  keep  sight 
of  these  proteid  and  carbo- 
hydrate facts.  They  are  then 
able  to  make  wise  and  nour- 
ishing combinations  for  their 
families.  They  know  why  a 
man  receives  as  much  nour- 
ishment from  eggs  and  beans 

Mineral 

Matter  ancj  cheese  as  from  steak  and 
roasts.  They  know  why  boiled 
potatoes  alone  are  not  so 
nourishing  as  creamed  pota- 
toes, and  why  pickles  and  tea 
and  coffee  are  almost  useless 
as  food. 

Just  here  it  should  be 
stated  that  food  is  needed  not 
for  nourishment  alone  but 
for  bulk  as  well.  Were  it  not 
for  this  we  might  be  content 
to  have  our  food  condensed 
to  small  pellets  and  swallowed 
quickly  with  a  mouthful  of 


THIS   SHOWS   WHAT  PROPORTION   OF 

THE  HUMAN  BODY  is  COMPOSED  OF 

EACH  SUBSTANCE  WHICH  WE  TAKE 

AS  FOOD 

Little  carbohydrate  appears  because 
most  of  the  sugar  and  starch  which  we 
eat  is  used  up  in  the  shape  of  heat  and 
muscular  work  and  sent  from  the  body 
as  carbon  dioxid.  When  we  eat  more 
carbohydrate  than  we  need,  the  sur- 
plus is  stored  up  as  fat.  The  diagram 
shows  that  the  body  keeps  a  good  deal 
of  this  on  hand  ready  for  use 

(Copied  from  Practical Hygiene ;  by  Alice 
Ravenhill) 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  EATING  153 

water.  The  objection  to  this  simple  scheme  is  that  the 
extended  size  and  length  of  the  stomach  and  the  food 
tube  have  to  be  taken  into  account.  They  require  food 
which  shall  be  bulky  enough  to  be  acted  on.  Vege- 
tables and  fruit  have  special  value  for  this  reason.  The 
same  is  true  of  graham  bread  and  grains  with  the  hulls 
on.  Much  of  the  tissue  of  vegetables  and  fruit  is  not 
useful  as  food,  but  it  is  of  great  value  in  giving  bulk  for 
the  walls  of  the  tube  to  exercise  themselves  upon. 

There  are  those  who  feel  very  sure  that  they  must  eat 
meat  of  some  sort  every  day.  So  indeed  they  must  if 
they  can  provide  themselves  with  proteid  in  no  other 
way.  But  there  are  multitudes  of  equally  active  people 
who  are  intelligent  enough  to  know  that  they  can  find 
all  the  proteid  they  need  in  other  foods  than  meat. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

CATS   UNDER  THE  X-RAY 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  soldiers  and  athletes  who 
shared  in  the  eating  experiments  had  no  very  definite 
notion  about  that  which  was  to  happen  to  the  food 
which  they  swallowed,  and  it  may  easily  be  that  some 
of  them  had  not  so  much  as  heard  about  Dr.  Cannon's 
experiments  on  cats. 

These  experiments  were  carried  on  in  the  laboratory 
of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  and  the  record  of  the 
work  was  published  in  1898.  Cats  were  chosen  because 
they  are  easy  to  get  hold  of,  ready  to  eat  when  they  are 
fed,  ready  to  sleep  at  almost  any  time,  and  easily  con- 
trolled. Even  among  cats,  however,  Dr.  Cannon  had  to 
choose  carefully,  for  only  those  who  were  good-natured 
were  useful  to  him. 

Having  made  his  choice  he  took  bread,  mixed  into  it 
a  harmless  chemical  called  bismuth,1  fed  it  to  his  cats,  and 
waited  for  results.  The  bismuth  was  put  in  for  this  one 
reason,  that  its  presence  in  the  food  made,  it  possible  to 
get  a  shadow  of  the  shape  of  the  stomach  by  means  of  X- 
rays.  From  shadows  he  hoped  to  discover,  very  definitely, 

1  The  exact  chemical  name  is  bismuth  subnitrate. 
'154 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY  155 

how  the  stomach  moves  during  the  time  that  it  is  digest- 
ing its  contents.  Dr.  Cannon  was  fortunate  in  the  cats 
he  chose,  fortunate  in  his  helpers,  and  fortunate  in  what 
he  was  able  to  learn  through  the  X-rays ;  for  he  learned 
facts  which  had  never  been  proved  before. 

After  being  fed  the  cat  was  put  in  place  for  its  shadow 
picture.  The  particular  cat  which  I  have  in  mind  was 
fed  at  fifty-two  minutes  after  ten  in  the  morning.  At 
eleven  o'clock  work  was  well  under  way  in  the  stomach, 
and  once  every  half  hour  after  that,  until  twelve  minutes 
after  six  in  the  afternoon,  the  kindly  cat  consented  to 
be  put  in  place  to  have  its  shadow  studied.  Dr.  Cannon 
traced  the  shadows  one  by  one,  so  that  an  exact  record 
was  kept  of  the  size  of  the  stomach  from  the  time  of 
the  hearty  feeding  until  there  was  nothing  left  to  be 
digested. 

During  this  time  there  had  been  an  interesting  course 
of  events.  When  first  seen  the  stomach  looked  like  a 
small  leg  of  ham  with  a  curled-up  tail  to  it.  But  when 
six  o'clock  came  the  leg  shape  had  disappeared  entirely, 
leaving  nothing  but  the  tail  to  show  where  the  food  had 
been.  Moreover,  at  this  time  the  cat  seemed  hungry  and 
called  for  food,  with  which  it  was  promptly  rewarded. 

The  diminishing  size  of  the  stomach  was  perhaps 
one  of  the  smallest  lessons  learned  that  day;  for  while 
the  cat  slept,  and  while  the  X-rays  were  focused  on  its 
stomach,  another  fact  was  noted.  It  appeared  that  food 


s~^\ 


,2.00, 


>3.00 


^4.30, 


156  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

]].oo  ^^~\  which  had  newly  arrived  stayed  quietly 
in  the  upper  end  of  the  stomach  as  if 
it  were  in  a  reservoir.  Here  the  saliva 
which  had  been  swallowed  with  the 
food  had  a  longer  time  to  do  its  share 
in  the  work  of  digestion.  But  as  fast 
as  supplies  were  needed  farther  on  this 
reservoir  contracted  itself  and  sent  its 
contents  forward  a  little  at  a  time. 

It  was  also  seen  that  the  firm  walls 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  stomach  had 
begun  to  contract  in  a  series  of  wave- 
like  movements.  These  waves  started 
near  the  middle  of  the  stomach  and 
moved  towards  the  smaller  end  of  the 
elastic  bag.  They  followed  each  other 
in  regular  succession.  Once  every  ten 
seconds  a  new  wave  took  its  start  from 
about  the  same  spot  and  traveled  the 
same  course  down  to  the  smaller  end. 

Indeed,  whenever  the  shadows  were 
studied  during  that  day  these  waves 
were  seen  to  be  following  each  other 
with  unceasing  regularity.  Moreover, 
as  time  passed  and  as  digestion  pro- 
gressed this  middle  part  of  the  stom- 
ach grew  gradually  more  and  more 


|5  6.00 

CONTRACTION  OF 

CAT'S  STOMACH 

(MUCH  REDUCED) 

DURING  DIGESTION 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY  157 

slender,  like  a  neck,  while  the  larger  end  stayed  large 
for  a  longer  time. 

Through  his  study  of  shadows  Dr.  Cannon  learned 
that  within  about  fifteen  minutes  after  food  is  swal- 
lowed a  slender  jet  of  softened  food  goes  with  a  spurt 
through  an  opening  at  the  lower  end  of  the  stomach 
and  out  into  the  tube  which  is  the  beginning  of  the 
small  intestine. 

For  all  animals,  including  man,  this  exit  for  the  con- 
tents of  the  stomach  is  guarded  by  a  strong  muscle 
called  the  pylorus,  or  keeper  of  the  gate.  And  well  does 
this  keeper  do  its  work.  Sometimes  with  every  wave 
that  rolls  in  its  direction  it  opens  wide  enough  to  allow 
a  spurt  of  digested  liquid  food  called  chyme  to  go 
through.  But  sometimes  it  stays  persistently  shut  while 
wave  after  wave  pushes  in  vain  in  its  direction. 

For  the  sake  of  getting  an  explanation  of  this  uneven 
action  of  the  pylorus  Dr.  Cannon  induced  the  cat  to 
swallow  a  small,  specially  prepared  tablet  made  up  of 
starch  paste  and  of  bismuth,  the  chemical  substance 
already  referred  to.  He  then  watched  the  progress  of 
this  pellet  in  the  stomach.  He  saw  it  stay  for  a  long  time 
in  the  large,  bulb-like  end  ;  saw  it  gradually  make  its  way 
farther  and  farther  down  as  it  was  sent  forward  by  the 
waves  of  contractions ;  and  finally  saw  that  for  forty-two 
minutes  after  the  pellet  reached  the  pylorus  that  dili- 
gent gatekeeper  allowed  nothing  to  pass  onward. 


158  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

Over  and  over  again  the  round  bit  of  bismuth  and 
the  mass  of  soft  food  in  which  it  floated  came  up  to  the 
pylorus  as  if  to  demand  free  passage  through.  And  over 
and  over  again,  just  as  often,  the  soft  as  well  as  the  hard 
was  positively  rejected  and  sent  shooting  backwards, 
only  to  come  again  and  again  to  be  rejected. 

This  was  kept  up  until  finally  the  most  fluid  of  the 
food  was  refused  no  longer.  It  went  onward.  Later  yet 
the  pylorus  seemed  to  give  up  all  protest.  It  seemed  to 
conclude  that  there  was  no  hope  of  ever  softening  the 
bismuth.  This  also  was  then  permitted  to  go  on  in  com- 
pany with  food  which  was  well  prepared  for  advancement. 

From  this  experiment  it  is  evident  that  the  disadvan- 
tage of  any  hard  substance  in  the  stomach  is  not  simply 
that  it  is  itself  slow  in  passing  on  through  the  pylorus, 
but  that  it  delays  the  progress  of  even  such  food  as  ha$ 
already  been  reduced  to  chyme  —  food  which  should  be 
receiving  its  next  course  of  treatment  in  the  food  tube. 
The  main  objection  to  slow  digestion  is  that  after  food 
has  stayed  too  long  in  the  stomach  it  grows  sour  and 
gives  off  gases  which  stretch  the  walls  of  the  stomach 
and  cause  distress  of  various  kinds. 

The  next  time  you  eat  in  a  hurry  and  are  tempted  to 
swallow  unchewed  lumps  of  food,  think  of  all  this  and 
control  yourself  in  time. 

During  the  X-ray  experiments  there  came  an  unex- 
pected turn  to  affairs  one  day.  Thus  far  Dr.  Cannon  had 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY 


159 


been  fortunate  enough  to  have  dealings  with  amiable  cats 
only.  They  had  eaten  when  he  wished,  had  been  quiet 
and  well-mannered  during  the  experiments,  and  had  slept 
when  required.  In  addition,  their  stomachs  had  gone 


(Esophagus 


Gall_ 
Bladder 


Bile  Duct 


Intestine 


FromtheLiver 
1      1    Pylorus 


'Pancreatic  Duct 


THE  HUMAN  STOMACH 

Food  reaches  the  stomach  from  the  mouth  through  the  oesophagus.  While 
digestion  goes  on  bile  runs  from  the  liver  directly  into  the  intestine;  at 
other  times  the  opening  of  the  bile  duct  is  shut,  and  instead  of  entering  the 
intestine  bile  passes  into  the  gall  bladder,  where  it  is  stored  until  needed. 
The  outline  of  the  pancreas  is  shown  by  a  dotted  line 

steadily  to  work  when  food  was  put  into  them,  and  had 
kept  ploddingly  at  it  until  digestion  was  accomplished. 

But  a  different  type  of  cat  came  to  Dr.  Cannon's  hands 
one  morning.  This  one  ate  as  promptly  as  the  others, 
and  when  the  X-ray  was  arranged  the  shadow  showed  at 


160  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

first  that  the  usual  regular  wave  action  of  the  muscular 
walls  was  taking  place.  Suddenly,  however,  the  animal 
lost  his  temper.  He  seemed  to  feel  outraged  that  any- 
thing should  be  going  on  which  he  did  not  understand. 
He  refused  to  purr  as  did  the  other  cats ;  he  insisted  on 
being  released.  Being  in  such  a  state  of  mind  he  was 
useless  and  had  to  go.  But  before  he  was  dismissed  it 
was  seen  that  all  the  action  of  the  waves  had  stopped. 
So  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  stomach  was  as  inactive  as 
if  it  were  empty  of  food. 

This  led  to  close  observation  of  the  connection  be- 
tween the  feelings  of  a  cat  and  the  behavior  of  its 
stomach  during  digestion.  These  observations  in  turn 
led  to  the  startling  discovery  that  whenever  a  cat  is 
unhappy  or  disturbed  in  its  mind  by  anger,  anxiety,  or 
distress  of  any  description,  the  muscular  action  of  the 
stomach  comes  to  an  end. 

To  prove  this  conclusively  those  who  carried  on  the 
experiments  were  obliged  to  tease  a  well-disposed  cat  a 
little,  even  while  it  was  under  the  rays.  Before  the  teas- 
ing it  purred  gently  and  the  wave  contractions  swept  on 
with  rhythmic  regularity.  But  when  the  teasing  began, 
and  when  the  cat  began  to  feel  mental  distress  and 
to  show  it,  every  wave  ceased ;  the  stomach  stopped 
its  work  abruptly  and  absolutely.  If,  then,  Dr.  Cannon 
stroked  the  cat  it  was  at  once  happy;  it  purred,  and 
with  that  purring  began  again  the  squeezing  and  the 


CATS  UNDER  THE  X-RAY  l6l 

monotonous,  regular  progress  of  the  waves  along  the 
walls  of  the  stomach. 

Doctors  have  always  known  that  an  unhappy  man 
does  not  digest  his  food  so  well  as  the  same  man  when 
he  is  happy;  but  none  have  known  just  why  this  is  so. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  there  is  some  close  connec- 
tion between  happiness  and  the  power  of  the  stomach  to 
keep  up  the  squeezing  movement  of  its  waves. 

In  view  of  this  discovery,  nothing  could  be  clearer 
than  the  fact  that  if  we  wish  good  work  from  our  own 
stomachs  we  must  be  neither  worried,  nor  anxious,  nor 
angry,  either  during  the  time  that  we  are  eating  or  so 
long  afterwards  as  food  is  in  our  stomachs  waiting  to  be 
digested.  For  the  simple  sake  of  health,  therefore,  the 
calm  and  happy  mind  is  greatly  to  be  desired. 


\  CHAPTER   XXII 

PURE   WATER   AND    CLEAN    MILK 

Year  after  year,  for  thirty-five  years,  people  died  in 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  under  the  scourge  of  typhoid 
fever.  As  the  city  grew,  the  number  of  deaths  multi- 
plied until,  during  1907,  622  people  died  of  typhoid 
alone. 

But  the  misfortune  was  even  worse  than  this ;  for  be- 
sides those  who  died  were  the  thousands  of  other  people 
who  suffered  but  did  not  die.  Hundreds  at  a  time,  dur- 
ing each  month  of  each  year,  were  ill  in  their  homes 
and  in  the  hospitals  of  the  city.  They  lost  money  be- 
cause they  could  not  work  for  daily  wages.  They  paid 
out  for  doctors'  bills  and  medicine  savings  that  were 
intended  for  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  house  rent.  Thou- 
sands of  children  were  hungry  and  cold  because  their 
parents  were  too  ill  to  care  for  them  and  too  weak  to 
work.  It  is  indeed  estimated  that  for  each  person  who 
dies  of  typhoid  fever  eight  other  persons  are  ill  with  it. 

So  matters  progressed  from  bad  to  worse  for  thirty- 
five  years.  In  the  meantime  a  generation  of  people 
came  and  went.  And  what  was  the  explanation  of  this 

death    rate?     Just    one    thing.     The    drinking-water   of 

162 


PURE  WATER  AND  CLEAN  MILK  163 

Pittsburg.  Why  then  did  the  citizens  use  it  ?  Because 
at  that  time  multitudes  of  people  did  not  know  the  facts 
about  pure  and  impure  drinking-water.  They  did  not 
know  that  every  case  of  typhoid  fever  is  started  by  a 
small  living  thing  which  comes  from  the  body  of  some 
one  who  has  the  fever.  They  did  not  know  that  this 
microbe  is  harmless  unless  it  gets  into  our  mouths  and 
we  swallow  it  alive.  They  did  not  know  that  their  own 
drinking-water  was  loaded  .with  living,  active  typhoid 
microbes  which  had  come  direct  from  the  bodies  of 
other  people.  They  did  not  even  know  that  boiling 
kills  disease  microbes,  that  a  dead  microbe  injures  no 
one,  and  that  any  water  that  has  been  boiled,  no  matter 
how  wretched  it  looks,  is  safe  to  drink  because  it  is  free 
from  living  typhoid  microbes. 

And  just  because  they  were  ignorant,  multitudes  of 
honest,  hard-working  people  in  Pittsburg  took  city  water 
as  it  came  from  the  faucet  and  drank  it  without  fear. 

Perhaps  we  wonder  why  this  particular  water  was  so 
full  of  the  microbes.  Any  map  of  that  section  of  the 
country  gives  the  explanation.  Notice  the  location  of  '- 
Pittsburg.  See  how  it  lies  at  the  point  where  the 
Allegheny  and  Monongahela  rivers  join  to  form  the 
Ohio.  Follow  the  two  streams  upward  and  notice  that 
all  the  way  along  towns  and  cities  are  ranged  on  both 
banks  of  both  streams.  There  are  over  seventy-five  of 
these  groups  of  houses,  and  their  united  population  gives 


164 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


a  total  of  over  350,000  human  beings.  This  then  throws 
light  on  the  entire  water  problem  of  Pittsburg,  for  it 
turns  out  that  each  of  these  towns  and  cities  pours  all  its 
waste  water,  its  sewage,  into  the  river  on  whose  banks 

it  stands.  A  most  natural  rid- 
dance of  it  surely,  for  the  river 
carries  the  waste  off  down  the 
stream.  But  think  of  the  next 
step  in  this  water  history. 

Not  only  does  each  town  empty 
all  its  sewage  into  the  river,  but 
each  towrn  also  takes  all  its  drink- 
ing-water from  the  same  river.  In 
other  wrords,  the  sewage  of  each 
town  becomes  part  of  the  drink- 
ing-water of  all  the  towns  that  lie 
farther  downstream.  Naturally 
the  mixture  grows  constantly 
worse,  and  by  the  time  it  reaches 

TOWNS  THAT  CONTAMINATE      Pittsburg    it    is    fearful    stuff  to 

DRINKING-WATER  drink.  Nevertheless,  just  as  it  was, 

without  any  pretense  at  killing  the  microbes  or  taking 
them  out,  this  liquid  compound  of  water,  waste,  and  filth 
was  in  those  days  turned  directly  into  the  huge  water 
pipes  of  Pittsburg,  and  the  masses  of  the  people  drank  it 
with  no  suspicion  of  danger.  Had  they  known  the  peril 
and  the  way  of  escape  they  would  have  saved  themselves. 


PURE  WATER  AND  CLEAN  MILK 


165 


We  ourselves  know  that  if  there  are  no  microbes 
in  our  drinking-water,  however  wretched  its  color  and 
taste  may  be,  it  cannot  by  any  possibility  give  us 
typhoid  fever.  In  the  case  of  Pittsburg,  however,  many 
persons  upstream  had  that  very  fever,  and  sewage  with 
its  load  of  microbes  from  those  who  were  ill  was  being 
sent  from  city  to  city  as  the  water 
rolled  onward.  Pittsburg  suffered 
most,  simply  because  it  was  farthest 
downstream. 

Then  came  an  abrupt,  astonishing 
change  in  the  death  record.  During 
the  single  month  of  October,  1907, 
596  persons  had  been  ill  with  the 
fever.  But  during  the  month  of 
October,  1908,  there  were  but  96 
cases  of  it  in  the  city ;  and  deaths 
for  the  entire  year  dropped  off  in 
like  proportion.  This  changed  rec-  From  coarse  gravel  to  fine 
ord  has  continued  to  the  present  sand 

day.  And  the  explanation  of  the  entire  change  rests  with 
the  sand  filters  which  were  set  to  work  in  1908.  These 
filters  are  near  the  city,  46  in  number,  and  easy  to  find. 
Each  covers  an  acre  of  ground ;  each  is  about  five  feet 
deep ;  each  is  a  separate  bed  of  pebbles,  gravel,  and  fine 
sand,  — -  pebbles  on  the  bottom,  sand  on  top.  River  water 
is  turned  on  these  filters.  It  soaks  through  slowly  and 


1 66  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

is  carried  in  water  pipes  to  the  homes  of  Pittsburg. 
Nothing  could  be  more  unpretentious  and  matter  of  fact 
than  these  huge  sand  filters.  But  they  are  nothing  less 
than  the  life  preservers  of  the  city.  They  purify  river 
water,  make  it  fit  to  drink,  and  by  so  doing  save  hun- 
dreds of  lives  each  year.1 

Now  turn  these  facts  to  your  own  account.  Think  for 
a  moment  of  the  water  conditions  in  your  town.  Where 
does  your  drinking-water  come  from?  If  from  a  river, 
study  some  map  and  try  to  decide  whether  or  not  other 
people  farther  upstream  are  sending  their  sewage  down 
to  you.  If  so,  when  typhoid  fever  attacks  any  person  in 
that  town  you  yourself  will  be  in  danger.  Clearly  enough, 
then,  all  river  water  that  is  exposed  to  human  contamina- 
tion should  be  either  boiled  or  sent  through  out-door  sand 
filters  before  it  is  used  as  a  drink.  A  small  filter  in  the 
house  does  not  purify  water  in  the  same  way.  It  takes  out 
dust  and  color,  but  it  does  not  remove  disease  microbes. 

Perhaps  your  drinking-water  comes  from  a  lake.  If  no 
human  beings  send  sewage  of  any  sort  into  that  lake, 
water  from  it  may  be  used  fearlessly  as  a  drink.  Generally, 
however,  large  lakes  receive  much  sewage  from  houses  and 
towns  that  stand  on  their  shores.  For  safety's  sake,  then, 
such  lake  water  should  be  either  boiled  or  filtered. 

Perhaps  you  draw  water  from  a  cool  country  well  and 
feel  very  safe  as  you  drink  it.  Still  there  may  be  danger 

1  The  book  Town  and  City  explains  the  mystery  of  the  sand  filter. 


PURE  WATER  AND  CLEAN  MILK  167 

even  here.  Last  summer  two  friends  enjoyed  what  they 
considered  delicious  water  from  a  well  in  the  country. 
One  month  later  both  men  were  down  with  typhoid 
fever  and  one  of  them  died.  What  was  the  trouble  ?  Those 
who  examined  the  surroundings  afterwards  saw  that  the 


DRINKING-WATER  FROM  A  WELL 

Notice  that  both  well  and  cesspool  are  near  the  house.  The  contents 
of  the  cesspool  soak  through  the  ground  without  hindrance  and  con- 
taminate the  water  which  supplies  the  well.  If  typhoid  microbes  are  in 
the  cesspool  they  will  get  into  the  drinking  water.  —  From  The  Human 
Mechanism,  by  Hough  and  Sedgwick 

well  was  too  near  the  dwelling  house  to  make  it  safe. 
Water  from  the  surface  of  the  ground  found  its  way  into 
the  well,  and  with  it  had  gone  sewage  from  a  man  who  had 
had  typhoid  fever  in  the  house.  The  water  itself  was  cool 
and  clear  as  crystal.  Neither  by  its  taste,  its  color,  nor  its 
odor  did  it  tell  any  tales  about  itself.  Dangerous  microbes 


1 68  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

were,  however,  concealed  in  it.  This  peril  from  well- 
water  is  so  real  that  many  a  village  which  depends  on 
wells  is  more  in  danger  from  typhoid  fever  than  are  large 
cities  which  supply  themselves  with  water  brought  to  town 
through  pipes  from  some  pure  though  distant  source. 

Judging  by  the  facts,  then,  it  begins  to  look  as  if  water 
were  encompassed  by  danger.  So  it  is  wherever  sewage 
from  man  can  in  any  wise  reach  it.  For  this  reason  we 
have  all  grown  more  careful  about  the  sources  of  our  water 
supply.  Some  cities  draw  it  from  mountain  springs  and 
from  small  lakes  which  cannot  be  contaminated  by  man. 
Others  build  huge  reservoirs  and  protect  them.  Here 
water  is  stored  by  the  hundred  million  gallons  at  a  time. 
Other  places  yet  filter  such  water  as  they  are  obliged  to 
use  from  undesirable  sources.  For  example,  London,  in 
England,  must  use  water  from  the  Thames.  Yet  as  this 
river  passes  by  it  carries  sewage  from  many  towns  on  its 
way  to  sea.  Nevertheless  even  the  terrible  water  of  the 
Thames  is  so  purified  by  sand  filters  that  London  is 
remarkably  free  from  typhoid  fever. 

It  is  raining  at  the  present  moment,  and  I  think  of  the 
pure  water  that  comes  from  the  skies.  Not  a  microbe  is 
in  it,  for  microbes  never  ascend  to  the  clouds  when  water 
evaporates.  Floating  microbes  may  be  in  the  air  on  a 
dusty  day,  but  these  are  washed  out  by  the  first  dash 
of  raindrops.  Everywhere  in  the  world,  therefore,  rain 
water,  direct  from  the  sky,  is  safe  to  drink.  And  when 


PURE  WATER  AND  CLEAN  MILK  169 

this  water  is  caught  in  tanks  and  kept  away  from  all 
human  contamination  it  continues  to  be  the  safest  water 
we  have. 

In  deciding  to  live  in  this  town  or  that  always  make 
some  inquiry  about  the  water  supply  of  the  different  places 
before  you  come  to  any  decision  as  to  where  to  make  your 
home.  For  life  itself  depends  on  the  purity  of  our  drink- 
ing-water. 

Then,  too,  there  is  that  other  important  drink,  the  milk 
we  use  so  constantly.  Even  here  there  may  be  danger 
from  harmful  microbes. 

In  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1882,  typhoid  fever 
suddenly  appeared  in  several  different  homes  at  about 
the  same  time.  On  investigation  it  was  found  that  all 
who  had  the  fever  took  milk  from  the  same  milkman, 
and  a  little  later  it  also  appeared  that  a  man  had  just 
had  typhoid  fever  in  the  home  of  the  farmer  who  sent 
the  milk  to  town.  Just  how  the  microbes  reached  the 
milk  no  one  could  say.  Perhaps  the  milk  cans  had  been 
washed  in  water  that  contained  the  microbes.  Perhaps 
the  microbes  were  on  the  hands  of  the  man  who  did  the 
milking.  Perhaps  some  one  had  put  contaminated  water 
into  the  cans  to  increase  the  milk  supply.  However  it 
was  done  there  was  no  doubt  about  the  fact.  In  one 
way  or  another  typhoid  microbes  had  reached  the  milk 
and  passed  the  disease  on.  Scarlet  fever  has  sometimes 
been  carried  in  the  same  way. 


I  JO  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

In  the  town  where  I  live  there  is  just  now  quite  a 
rivalry  over  the  milk  business.  Two  men  are  trying  to 
outdo  each  other  in  the  perfection  of  the  milk  they  de- 
liver. On  one  neat-looking  milk  wagon  the  printed  sign 
reads,  "  Clean  Milk  Dairy " ;  on  the  other  there  are  but 
two  words,  "  Pure  Milk."  As  for  ourselves  who  buy  the 
milk,  we  know  that  from  both  wagons  the  best  of  milk 
is  delivered  to  us.  We  are  sure  of  this  because  both 
dairies  believe  in  cleanliness.  They  know  that  the  cleaner 
the  milk  the  fewer  the  microbes,  the  fresher  the  milk  the 
fewer  the  microbes,  the  colder  the  milk  the  fewer  the 
microbes. 

In  both  dairies,  therefore,  clean  cows  are  kept  in  clean 
stables ;  they  are  milked  by  clean  men  who  wash  their 
hands  before  they  do  the  milking.  Clean  pails,  clean  pans 
and  bottles,  all  are  kept  fresh  and  sweet  through  the  use 
of  boiling  water  and  "live  steam."  Those  who  conduct 
this  business  know  that  microbes  multiply  faster  in  warm, 
unclean  milk  than  elsewhere,  and  that  each  speck  of 
mud,  each  bit  of  horsehair,  that  enters  the  milk  carries 
countless  microbes  with  it.  They  also  know  that  each  of 
these  microbes  begins  to  multiply  at  once  and  that  no 
amount  of  straining  can  take  out  microbes  after  they  are 
once  in  a  liquid.  These  men  are  therefore  wise  enough 
to  be  careful  of  the  milk  supply  from  the  time  it  is  drawn 
until  it  is  delivered.  In  addition  they  keep  it  cool  from 
start  to  finish. 


PURE  WATER  AND  CLEAN  MILK  i  7 1 

It  is  quite  otherwise,  however,  with  certain  men  who 
carry  on  the  same  important  business  in  a  neighboring 
town.  They  do  not  seem  to  know  that  dirt  and  microbes 
go  together,  that  the  more  dirt  the  more  microbes,  that 
the  older  the  milk  the  more  microbes,  that  the  warmer 
the  milk  (before  it  is  cooked)  the  more  microbes.  As  a 
result  their  milk  is  not  such  as  we  should  wish  to  use. 

If  at  any  time  you  are  not  sure  about  the  history  of 
your  milk  supply,  and  if  you  wish  to  make  it  perfectly 
safe,  remember  the  old  lesson  that  boiling  kills  microbes 
wherever  they  are.  Two  things  may  render  milk  harmful : 

1.  The  presence  of  disease  microbes  which  may 
reach  it  through  carelessness. 

2.  The  presence  of  too  great  a  number  of  microbes 
which  are  harmless  in  themselves. 

For  young  babies  this  last  danger  is  the  real  one. 
Various  cities  are  beginning  to  take  this  fact  into  ac- 
count and  are  trying  to  supply  the  babies  of  the  city 
with  milk  which  carries  as  few  microbes  as  possible  and 
no  danger  whatever.  By  means  of  pure  milk  the  city  of 
Rochester,  New  York,  reduced  the  death  rate  of  its 
babies  from  one  thousand  in  1892  to  less  than  five  hun- 
dred in  I9O4.1  Thus  one  example  is  added  to  another 
and,  the  world  over,  fathers  and  mothers  are  learning 
that  the  kind  of  milk  they  buy  helps  decide  what  the 
death  rate  of  their  youngest  children  shall  be. 

1  Town  and  City  tells  how  Rochester  purified  the  milk  and  saved  the  babies. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

FROM   FOOD  TO   BLOOD,  OR  PERISTALTIC  ACTION 
AND  THE  VILLI 

In  the  same  laboratory  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School 
and  probably  on  the  identical  cats  already  described  a 
second  set  of  experiments  was  made  to  determine  what 
the  history  of  chyme  is  after  it  has  gone  through  the 
pylorus  into  the  tube  which  receives  it. 

This  tube,  which  in  man  is  about  twenty  feet  long  and 
about  three  inches  around,  is  folded  back  and  forth  in 
compact  compass  just  below  the  stomach.  It  is  called  the 
small  intestine,  and  within  it  go  on  some  of  the  most 
marvelous  of  our  involuntary  muscular  contractions. 

The  entire  scientific  world  was  in  doubt  as  to  precisely 
what  happens  in  the  tube  until,  through  the  X-ray,  through 
the  cats,  and  through  Dr.  Cannon's  continued  experiments, 
the  mystery  was  explained  by  the  discovery  of  a  series  of 
surprising  facts  which  could  be  readily  understood. 

Previously  scientists  had  known  that  chyme,  as  it  leaves 
the  stomach,  is  as  liquid  as  pea  soup ;  that  certain  juices 
are  promptly  poured  upon  it  from  the  liver,  the  pancreas, 

and  the  lining  of  the  tube;  and  that  in  its  most  liquid 

172 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD 


173 


state  the  food  passes  through  the  sides  of  the  small  in- 
testine and  is  sent  into  the  blood  supply  of  the  body. 

All  this  has  been  acknowledged  for  many  years.    It  has 
also   been  stated  distinctly  very  often   that  food  which 


B 


WWW 


THE  FOOD  TUBE  AND  ITS  CONTENTS 

A,  the  tube  as  it  contracts  at  regular  intervals ;  B,  the  contents  of  the  tube 
after  the  first  contraction  ;  C,  after  the  second  contraction ;  Z>,  after  the  third 
contraction.  The  line  through  the  middle  of  the  oval  piece  shows  where 
each  was  divided  by  the  tube  as  it  tightened  just  there.  The  arrows  show 
how  the  new  halves  were  alternately  forced  apart  and  driven  together  by 
the  repeated  contractions  of  the  tube  itself 

leaves  the  stomach  as  chyme  is  to  be  called  chyle  while 
it  makes  its  journey  through  the  long  tube.  It  is  well 
to  remember  these  new  words  and  these  statements,  for 
they  make  the  continued  history  of  digestion  easier  to 
understand. 


174  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

After  the  stomach  had  done  its  work  through  waves  of 
motion ;  after  gastric  juice  had  softened  and  dissolved  the 
food  by  degrees;  after  the  pylorus  had  allowed  such  chyme 
as  was  soft  enough  to  pass  through  its  narrow  portal; 
after  bile  from  the  liver  and  pancreatic  juice  from  the 
pancreas  had  turned  this  chyme  to  chyle,  then  followed 
what  proved  to  be  a  most  surprising  discovery. 

At  first  the  X-rays  showed  the  shadow  of  the  chyle  as 
it  lay  along  in  the  various  loops  of  the  folded  tube.  All 
was  inactive  and  quiet  for  a  season.  The  chyle  was  mo- 
tionless and  gave  no  sign  of  progress.  Then  came  slight 
warnings,  —  a  quiver  at  first,  a  mere  agitation.  Then 
without  further  delay  activity  began  in  earnest.  The 
stretched-out  length  of  chyle  within  an  entire  loop  was 
suddenly  divided  into  separate  bits  of  equal  size.  The 
tube  indeed,  without  apparent  cause,  had  tightened  itself 
at  regular  intervals  ;  like  a  flash  it  had  divided  its  con- 
tents into  a  series  of  oval  masses  of  equal  size.  After 
this  it  halted  for  a  moment.  But  within  two  seconds 
there  was  another  contraction,  and  each  bit  was  now 
divided  through  the  middle ;  their  halves  were  compelled 
to  unite  with  neighbor  halves  on  either  side,  and  a  series 
of  new  whole  ones  appeared. 

Thus,  back  and  forth  with  every  two  seconds  of  time, 
the  rapid  peristaltic  action  was  continued. 

While  it  lasted  the  small  particles  were  alternately  so 
quickly  divided  and  so  quickly  forced  together  again  that 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD  175 

Dr.  Cannon  speaks  of  them  as  rushing  together  "with 
the  rapidity  of  flying  shuttles,  the  little  particles  flitting 
towards  each  other  and  the  larger  segments  shifting  to 
and  fro,  commonly  for  more  than  half  an  hour  without 
cessation." 

In  the  meantime  the  food  within  the  tube  was  advanced 
but  slowly  on  its  way.  It  seemed  to  stay  in  place  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  be  acted  on  by  the  squeezing 
and  the  relaxing  of  the  tube.  Whether  the  chyle  was  thin 
or  thick,  whether  the  activity  of  the  tube  was  slower  or 
more  swift,  the  squeezing  was  kept  up  so  unweariedly  that 
each  particle  of  chyle  was  affected  by  it.  All  that  lay 
within  the  folds  and  turns  of  the  small  intestine  was 
brought  into  contact  with  the  sides  of  the  tube  tens  of 
thousands  of  times  while  it  was  gradually  being  absorbed. 
That  which  could  not  be  used  went  on  into  the  large 
intestine,  whence  it  would  finally  leave  the  body. 

To  an  ignorant  person  this  endless  activity  might  seem 
to  be  a  waste  of  energy  and  a  needless  hindrance  to  the 
chyle  as  it  works  its  way  along.  In  point  of  fact,  however, 
rapid  movement  of  chyle  through  the  food  tube  would,  be 
a  distinct  disadvantage ;  for  from  the  time  food  is  swal- 
lowed until  its  journey  is  ended  the  one  necessity  is  that 
it  should  be  thoroughly  prepared  to  be  used  by  the  regi- 
ments of  threadlike  villi  which  line  the  small  intestine. 
Chyle,  indeed,  is  improved  by  every  juice  and  every 
squeeze  which  it  receives  before  it  is  absorbed  by  the  villi. 


1 76 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


So  true  is  this  that  food  which  does  not  get  the  treatment 
it  needs  will  be  rejected  by  each  villus  which  it  meets  as 
it  travels  downward,  and  will  end  by  forming  part  of  the 

final  waste  of  the  body.  When 
this  occurs  to  food  which  we  have 
taken  the  pains  to  cook  and  chew 
and  swallow,  not  only  does  the 
body  lose  the  strength  it  should 
gain,  but  the  tube  itself  is  in  dan- 
ger of  becoming  clogged.  And 
here  it  is  that  we  face  again  the 
problem  of  body  waste. 

With  all  that  we  eat  there  is, 
of  course,  much  that  can  never  be 
turned  into  chyle  and  blood.  As 
we  know,  however,  this  is  useful 
as  bulk.  But  nothing  hinders 
digestion  much  more,  or  breaks 
down  general  health  much  faster, 
than  the  results  which  come  from 
retaining  waste  in  the  body  after 
it  should  be  sent  off.  Waste  de- 

A  cut  through  the  wall  of  the  . 

tube,  showing  some  dark  blood    cays  in  the  body  just  as  meat  and 
vessels  and  four  vim          vegetables  decay  in  the  pantry 

on  a  warm  day.  Both  in  the  pantry  and  in  the  food  tube 
decay  comes  from  the  action  of  microbes,  and  from  both 
places  decaying  food  should  be  cleared  away  promptly. 


VlLLI   THAT    FORM    THE 

VELVET  LINING  OF  THE 
FOOD  TUBE 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD  177 

The  habit  of  getting  rid  of  waste  at  a  definite  hour  each 
day,  whether  in  the  morning  or  in  the  afternoon,  is  of 
priceless  value,  for  that  which  the  villi  reject  is  worse 
than  useless  to  the  body. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  from  first  to  last  each  mouth- 
ful of  food  which  we  swallow  is  being  put  into  shape  for 
the  villi,  and  that  they  use  it  or  not  without  the  slightest 
reference  to  our  wishes  in  the  matter.  This  indeed  is 
true,  and  the  number  of  these  independent  workers  is 
counted  by  the  hundred  thousand  and  the  million.  Each 
separate  one  is  a  tiny  finger-shaped  structure,  ready  to 
absorb  such  chyle  as  shall  meet  its  demand ;  each  stands 
beside  its  neighbor,  helping  to  make  the  soft,  velvety 
lining  of  the  twenty  feet  of  tubing ;  each  does  its  inde- 
pendent work,  yet  all  are  united  in  drawing  nourishment 
from  the  chyle  and  in  sending  it  on  to  the  body  through 
the  blood. 

Just  here  certain  facts  should  be  reviewed  and  con- 
densed : 

1.  It  is  through  the  lining  of  the  small  intestine 
that  all   substances  must  pass  (whether  proteid  or 
carbohydrate,  fat,  water,  or  salt)  which  are  to  enter 
the  blood  from  the  food  we  swallow. 

2.  The  villi  are,  in  point  of  fact,  the  lining  itself 
drawn  up  into  slender  tubes  for  the  sake  of  increas- 
ing the  surface  against  which  the  chyle   must  be 
pressed. 


178  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

3.  Food  passes  through  the  villi  much  as  lymph 
and  plasma  pass  back  and  forth  through  the  sides 
of   the    tubes    that    carry   blood.    This    food    must 
therefore  be  very  liquid,  for  the  villi  cannot  absorb 
any  solid  substance. 

4.  The  great  object  of  peristaltic  action  is  to  wash 
the  chyle  up  against  the  villi,  that  they  may  be  con- 
stantly bathed  with  fresh  supplies  of  it. 

5.  The  mouth  with  its  teeth  and  its  saliva  softens 
food  and  prepares  it  for  swallowing;    the  stomach 
with  its  gastric  juice  softens  it  still  further  and  pre- 
pares it  for  the  pylorus ;  the  food  tube  with  its  con- 
tributions from  the  liver  and  the  pancreas  gives  to 
what  we  eat  its  final  preparation  for  the  villi. 

When  chyle  which  is  squeezed  against  the  villi  is  such 
as  they  can  use,  they  absorb  it  and  send  it  on-  through 
other  tubes  into  the  current  of  the  blood.  When,  how- 
ever, this  chyle  is  not  liquid  enough,  or  not  changed 
enough  in  other  ways,  they  refuse  it  as  absolutely  as  if 
it  were  a  poison  to  them. 

For  each  of  us  almost  any  well-cooked  food  can  be 
turned  into  chyle  which  will  pass  through  the  villi ;  yet 
many  a  thin  man  and  many  a  half-nourished  woman  shows 
by  every  sign  of  face  and  figure  that  the  villi  are  not 
getting  what  they  can  accept. 

In  almost  every  such  case  the  explanation  lies  in  some 
mistake  which  the  person  is  making.  Perhaps  he  eats 


B 


FROM  FOOD  TO  BLOOD  179 

so  fast  and  chews  so  little  that  saliva  does  not  have  a 
chance  to  do  its  share  of  work.  Perhaps  he  is  so  busy 
just  before  and  just  after  eating  that  blood  is  drawn 
away  from  the  stomach,  leaving  it  less  vigorous  than  it 
should  be.  Perhaps  he  worries 
so  much,  is  so  anxious  and 
troubled  about  many  things, 
that  gastric  juice  fails  to  form 
and  is  thus  kept  from  doing  its 
part  of  the  work.  Or  it  may  be 
that  the  unfortunate  person 
has  overeaten  until  his  whole 
digestive  system  has  rebelled. 
Whatever  the  cause,  we  know 
that  we  are  nourished  or 
starved  according  as  we  have 
been  successful  or  not  in  pre- 
paring chyle  for  its  last  exam- 
ination. If  teeth  and  tongue, 

Saliva,    Stomach,     gastric     juice,     A,  a  cell  which  manufactures  mu- 

bile,  and  pancreatic  juice  have    ™s;  *>  *e  outside  layer,  which 

J  absorbs    chyle ;    6,    capillaries    to 

done  their  work  well,  the  final    supply  each  viiius  with   blood; 

.,,    .  r     ..  Z>,  lymphatic 

test  will  be  successfully  met 

and  passed ;  the  villi  will  accept  the  food  and  we  shall 
be  nourished.  If  the  test  is  not  met,  we  shall  suffer  from 
lack  of  nourishment. 


A    VlLLUS    CUT   DOWN    THROUGH 
THE  MIDDLE 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

GLAND  LABORATORIES  FOR  THE  AID  OF  APPETITE 
AND  GENERAL  HEALTH 

Although  they  did  not  understand  what  they  were 
doing,  dogs  no  less  than  cats  have  helped  scientists  who 
have  tried  to  explain  the  laws  of  digestion  for  us.  One 
such  dog  had  a  small  tube  fastened  so  ingeniously  to  his 
mouth  that  the  saliva  ran  into  it  as  fast  as  it  was  formed. 
Professor  Pawlow  watched  and  described  the  tests  one 
after  the  other : 

I  now  offer  such  an  animal  a  piece  of  flesh  and,  as  you  see,  the  tube 
fills  up  at  once  with  saliva.  I  stop  tempting  the  dog,  hang  on  a  new 
test  tube,  and  give  it  a  few  pieces  of  flesh  to  eat ;  once  more  a  strong 
secretion  of  saliva  results.  A  new  tube  is  now  attached  to  the  funnel, 
the  dog's  mouth  is  opened,  and  a  pinch  of  fine  sand  is  thrown  in ;  again 
there  is  a  flow  of  saliva.  One  may  employ  a  number  of  substances  in 
this  way,  when  a  similar  effect  is  always  produced. 

Many  different  students  have  established  the  fact  that 
the  mouths  of  dogs  and  of  men,  too,  are  supplied  with 
three  sets  of  salivary  glands,  and  that  for  dogs  and  men 
alike  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  following  causes  is 
enough  to  make  saliva  flow: 

1.  A  great  desire  for  some  special  kind  of  food, 

2.  The  chewing  of  the  food. 

180 


GLAND  LABORATORIES 


Prove  these  statements  for  yourself.  Think  of  the  most 
delicious  thing  you  know  anything  about,  and  notice  the 
effect  on  your  mouth.  Then  again,  when  mealtime  comes, 
or  even  now  if  you  can  get  it,  take  a  dry  crust  and  see 
what  you  can  do  with  it  by  the  mere  act  of  chewing.  Use 
your  jaws  vigorously  and  be- 
fore long  you  will  find  that 
you  have  turned  that  dry 
bread  into  something  as  easy 
to  swallow  as  a  mouthful  of 
mush. 

A  wise  man  with  weak  di- 
gestion often  chooses  toast, 
crackers,  and  crusts  rather 
than  the  most  delicate  cus- 
tards. He  makes  this  choice 
because  he  knows  that  dry  A  SALIVARY  GLAND 

food     requires     more    chewing     A,   artery;    V,  vein;    N,  nerve;    T, 

than    food    whirh    k    <5nft    anrl     tongue ;  A  the  tube  through  which 

(tt'   an         saliva,  manufactured  by  the  gland, 

that  for  this  reason  it  will  re-          is  emptied  into  the  mouth 
ceive  the  most  from  his  salivary  glands.    He  recognizes 
the  value  of  three  facts : 

i.  Saliva  has  the  power  to  turn  starch,  a  carbo- 
hydrate which  cannot  be  used  by  the  villi,  into 
sugar,  a  carbohydrate  which  can  be  absorbed  into 
the  body.  This  is  a  different  kind  of  sugar  from 
that  which  we  eat  in  food  or  in  candy.  Saliva  also 


182 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


helps  change  certain  sugars  which  are  hard  to  absorb 
into  other  sugar  which  is  easy  to  absorb. 

2.  The  more  saliva  we  mix  with  the  carbohydrate 
which  we  eat  in  bread,  potatoes,  and  other  foods  the 
better  prepared  will  that  carbo- 
hydrate be  for  its  next  course  of 
treatment. 

3.  Saliva  which  we  swallow 
with  our  food  will  continue  to  act 
upon  it  during  the  time  that  it 
stays  quietly  in  the  large  upper 
end  of  the  stomach  waiting  to 
go  on. 

Carbohydrate,  however,  does  not 
stand  alone  in  its  need  of  help  from 
the  mouth.  A  baby  is  allowed  to  draw 
no  more  than  the  finest  stream  of  milk 
through  the  mouthpiece  of  his  bottle. 
Those  who  feed  the  child  seem  to 
know  that  when  milk  reaches  the 

Gastric    juice    is    here 

manufactured    for  the  stomach  it  is  curdled  at  once,  and  that 

use  of  the  stomach         .      .  ,      .  ,  .  .. 

it  is  much  better  to  have  it  curdle  in 
small  flakes,  that  can  be  more  easily  digested,  than  in 
one  large  lump  which  will  be  slow  in  digesting.  Young 
babies  who  are  allowed  to  drink  milk  rapidly  from  a  tum- 
bler are  not  likely  to  gain  so  much  nourishment  from  this 
milk  as  they  would  if  it  reached  the  stomach  a  little  at  a 


BRANCHES  OF  A 

GASTRIC  GLAND 

HIGHLY  MAGNIFIED 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  183 

time.  The  same  is  so  true  for  older  people,  too,  that  wise 
doctors  strongly  advise  all  human  beings,  whether  young 
or  old,  to  take  their  milk  in  sips  and  not  in  a  pouring 
stream  which  will  curdle  in  a  mass  as  soon  as  it  reaches 
the  stomach.  Milk  is  swallowed  slowly,  therefore,  not 
because  it  needs  the  help  of  saliva  but  because  it  is 
more  quickly  digested  when  it  has 
been  curdled  in  flakes. 

After  being  swallowed  food 
finds  itself  in  the  region  of  the 
stomach  where  there  is  rhythmic 
agitation  from  the  waves  of  con- 
traction. Here  gastric  juice  acts 
upon  it. 

This  colorless  acid   fluid   can   A  FRAGMENT  OF  ™E  LIN- 

ING  OF  THE  STOMACH  MAG- 
dissolve    almost    any    proteid    Sub-          NIFIED  20  DIAMETERS 

stance.    A   dog    swallows    an   un-   Each  spot  shows  the  mouth  of 

a  gastric  gland  through  which 

chewed  chunk  of  raw  meat  and  gastric  juice  flows  into  the 
the  stomach  digests  it,  not  by  stomach 

tearing  it  to  pieces  but  in  a  real  way  by  dissolving 
it  through  the  aid  of  gastric  juice.  Even  the  human 
stomach  easily  digests  unchewed  raw  meat,  but  cooked 
meat  needs  more  chewing  and  more  help  from  the  saliva. 
Moreover  gastric  juice  is  needed  for  both  cooked  and 
uncooked  meats. 

Numberless    small    gastric    glands    manufacture    this 
liquid.    They  are  packed  snugly  side  by  side  within  the 


1 84  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

lining  of  the  stomach.  There  each  is  supplied  with  its 
separate  tube,  ending  in  its  own  special  outlet.  The  juice 
which  these  hosts  of  glands  manufacture  and  empty  into 
the  stomach  is  of  immense  value  in  continuing  the  work 
of  getting  food  ready  for  the  villi  and  the  blood. 

As  to  what  makes  gastric  juice  flow  fastest,  and  how 
the  supply  may  be  more  or  less  controlled,  Dr.  Pawlow 
learned  many  things  through  his  tests  with  the  dogs. 

The  stomach  has  been  washed  out  half  an  hour  ago,  and  since  then 
not  a  drop  of  gastric  juice  has  escaped.  We  begin  to  get  ready  a  meal  of 
flesh  and  sausage  before  the  animal,  as  if  we  meant  to  feed  it.  We  take 
the  pieces  of  flesh  from  one  place,  chop  them  up,  and  lay  them  in 
another,  passing  them  in  front  of  the  dog's  nose,  and  so  on.  The  animal, 
as  you  see,  manifests  the  liveliest  interest  in  our  proceedings,  stretches 
and  distends  itself,  endeavors  to  get  out  of  its  cage  and  come  to  the 
food,  chatters  its  teeth  together,  swallows  saliva,  and  so  on.  Precisely 
five  minutes  after  we  begin  to  tease  the  animal  in  this  way  the  first 
drops  of  gastric  juice  appear.  The  secretion  grows  stronger  and  stronger 
till  it  flows  in  a  considerable  stream.  The  meaning  of  this  experiment 
is  so  clear  as  to  require  no  explanation  ;  the  passionate  longing  for  food, 
and  this  alone,  has  called  forth  under  our  eyes  a  most  intense  activity 
of  the  gastric  glands. 

In  carrying  on  these  experiments  Professor  Pawlow 
made  it  plain  that  dogs  should  not  simply  be  tempted  but 
should  be  really  fed  with  that  which  has  tempted  them. 

Several  other  facts  were  brought  out  by  the  same  tests. 
Each  was  valuable  from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  and  I 
give  them  in  close  succession : 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  185 

1.  The  more  eagerly  a  dog  desires  food  the  more 
gastric  juice  will  flow. 

2.  Gastric  juice  flows  fastest  and  longest  in  con- 
nection with  food  that  is  enjoyed  the  most ;  for  some 
dogs  this  is  raw  meat,  for  others  cooked  meat,  etc. 
Dogs  have  preference  as  well  as  men. 

3.  The  mere  fact  that  something  is  in  the  dog's 
stomach  does  not  make  the  juice  flow. 

4.  We   all    understand    that  the  more   the  juice 
flows  the  better  will  the  food  digest. 

From  these  important  facts,  learned  from  the  study  of 
digestion  in  dogs,  men  have  learned  why  it  is  that  a 
good  appetite  helps  digestion.  Indeed,  those  who  make 
an  application  of  the  facts  to  their  own  lives  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  hunger,  if  it  is  not  too  long  continued, 
is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  life,  and  that  he  who 
eats  only  when  he  has  earned  an  appetite  for  food  is 
surest  to  gain  the  most  nourishment  from  that  which 
he  puts  into  his  stomach,  because  while  it  is  there  it 
will  receive  the  richest  supply  of  gastric  juice. 

But  aside  from  digestion  itself  there  is  the  great  matter 
of  preparing  food  for  the  glands  even  before  we  eat  it. 
The  fact  that  we  cook  our  food  is  an  enormous  help  in 
two  important  directions: 

i.  Cooking  kills  microbes.  Recall  the  typhoid  ex- 
periences of  Pittsburg  as  they  are  given  in  Chapter 
XXII  of  this  book,  and  remember  that  boiling  would 


i86 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


FROM  THE  SEED  OF  THE  BEAN 
The  larger  granules  are  starch, 


have  killed  the  disease  microbes  and  made  the  water 
safe  to  drink.    The  same  treatment  will  kill  other 

disease  microbes  whether 
they  are  in  milk  or  meat 
or  food  of  any  kind. 

2.  Cooking  breaks  starch 
cells  open  and  makes  it  pos- 
sible for  saliva  to  get  hold 
of  the  starch  and  help  turn 
it  to  sugar. 
We  know  already  that  unless 

the  smaller  ones  are  proteid        th;s    starch    is    turned    to    SUgar 

every  villus  in  the  long  tube  will  reject  it,  whereas  if  the 
change  has  been  made  it  is  quite  sure  of  being  accepted. 

In  cooking  oatmeal  and  other 
breakfast  foods  that  hold  a  good 
deal  of  starch  there  is  often 
danger  that  those  who  do  not 
understand  the  main  object  of 
cooking  will  call  food  ready  to 
eat  when  heat  has  not  been 
applied  to  it  long  enough.  An 
hour  of  boiling  for  oatmeal  and 
half  an  hour  for  other  more  finely  powdered  grains  is 
none  too  long  for  best  results.  Nothing  is  gained  and 
much  is  lost  by  eating  cereals  that  have  not  been  cooked 
long  enough. 


A  BIT  OF  POTATO  SHOWING 
STARCH  GRANULES 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  187 

This  chapter  teaches  several  important  facts  about 
eating. 

1.  We   should  so  live  and  work  as  to  have  an 
appetite  for  our  food. 

2.  We  should  chew  food  thoroughly  and  give  pro- 
longed stimulation  to  the  salivary  glands,  thus  fitting 
the  food  for  the  stomach  and  for  the  pylorus. 

3.  We   should   enjoy  our  food,  thus   stimulating 
both  salivary  and  gastric  glands. 

4.  Foods    that    contain    starch    should    be    well 
cooked  and  chewed. 

Still  another  fact,  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  is  that 
for  our  best  good  we  should  be  free  from  mental  anxiety 
of  every  sort  before  we  eat,  while  we  eat,  and  after  we  eat. 


CHAPTER    XXV 

GLAND    LABORATORIES    INFLUENCED    BY   ALCOHOL 

In  case  you  are  thin  enough  to  do  it,  you  might  slip 
your  fingers  up  under  the  edge  of  the  lowest  ribs  on  your 
right  side.  There  you  will  feel  the  smooth  outline  of  the 
largest  gland  in  your  body.  It  weighs  between  three  and 
four  pounds,  and  it  is  to  this  place  that  the  villi  send 
much  of  that  which  they  gather  from  the  chyle.  Indeed, 
it  is  only  after  this  gathered  liquid  food  has  gone  into  the 
liver,  and  after  a  valuable  substance  called  glycogen  has 
been  made  out  of  it,  that  it  is  ready  to  be  used  by  the 
tissues  of  the  body.  The  liver,  then,  is  a  chemical  labora- 
tory where  food  gets  its  final  preparation  for  the  blood. 

More  than  this,  a  large  part  of  the  impure  or  venous 
blood  on  its  way  back  to  the  heart  from  the  capillaries 
passes  through  the  same  great  gland.  There  it  is  re- 
lieved of  broken-down  tissue  and  other  waste  which  it 
has  gathered  from  the  body.  From  part  of  this  waste 
the  liver  manufactures  bile.  Here,  then,  we  have  the 
circle  of  the  occupations  of  the  liver. 

i.  It  changes  liquid  food  which  it  receives  from 
the  villi  into  glycogen,  which  the  body  needs  for 
nourishment. 

188 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL   189 

2.  It  takes  certain  wastes  from  the  blood,  makes 
them  over,  and  forwards  them  in  the  blood  to  the  kid- 
neys, to  be  separated  there  and  sent  from  the  body. 

3.  It  manufactures  bile  as  needed.    This  is  sent 
to  the  small  intestine,  where  it  helps  digestion  and 
afterwards    escapes   with    the  other  wastes    of   the 
food  tube. 

Clearly  enough  no  man  who  knows  these  facts  and 
who  wishes  to  make  sure  of  his  health  will  care  to 
ignore  the  welfare  of  his  liver  or  to  act  as  if  he  were 
ignorant  of  the  laws  which  control  it.  Nevertheless 
many  of  the  discoveries  about  these  laws  are  so  recent 
that  even  well-informed  people  have  sometimes  failed  to 
hear  about  them. 

This  is  true  of  my  neighbor  who  complained  about 
his  liver  the  other  day.  He  said  the  doctor  advised  him 
to  eat  less,  to  exercise  more,  and  to  give  up  his  beer 
until  he  was  in  good  shape  again.  But  against  this  he 
protested.  He  said  :  "  What  I  really  need  is  strength,  you 
know,  and  how  can  I  get  strong  by  eating  less  ?  As  for 
beer,  so  far  as  I  can  see  it  is  the  one  thing  that  really 
helps  me.  Can't  I  judge  by  my  own  feelings  ? "  The 
doctor  said  he  could  n't,  and  the  doctor  was  right. 
Follow  the  argument  closely. 

Those  of  us  who  have  ever  seen  a  piece  of  raw  liver 
know  how  extraordinarily  bloody  it  is.  We  also  know 
that  it  is  not  bloody  by  accident  on  a  particular  day,  but 


190  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

that  any  piece  of  liver,  on  any  day  of  the  year,  is  deluged 
with  its  own  blood.  This  is  inevitable  because  the  liver 
is  always  provided  with  an  enormous  number  of  small 
blood  vessels,  each  one  of  which  is  in  active  service. 


As  THE  LIVER  LOOKS  WHEN  DOING  GOOD  WORK 
(After  Horsley) 

When,  therefore,  the  doctor  gave  my  neighbor  that 
advice  about  beer,  he  was  acting  in  line  with  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  blood  vessels  in  general. 
He  knew,  what  we  also  know,  that  wherever  there  is  an 
unusual  supply  of  capillaries  and  blood-carrying  tubes  of 
all  sizes,  there  will  alcohol  do  its  paralyzing  work.  He 
knew  that  when  blood  vessels  in  the  liver  are  somewhat 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL  191 

paralyzed  and  enlarged  beyond  their  usual  size,  the  liver 
itself  is  sure  to  suffer  in  a  serious  way. 

When  a  doctor  examines  liver  after  liver  as  he  finds 
them    in  the  hospital   and    in    the   dissecting  room,  he 


A  DRUNKARD'S  LIVER  RUINED  BY  ALCOHOL 

From  its  appearance  it  is  sometimes  called  hobnailed 

(After  Horsley) 

counts  the  ignorance  of  the  unfortunate  men  no  laugh- 
ing matter.  "  A  drunkard's  liver  again,"  he  will  say  as 
he  opens  up  the  telltale  gland.  "  No  wonder  the  man 
died.  It 's  a  wonder  he  lived  as  long  as  he  did  with  a 
liver  of  this  sort  to  purify  his  blood  supply  for  him," 


192  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

That  which  the  doctor  finds  is  indeed  a  grievous  sight, 
for  a  liver  in  the  grip  of  alcohol  is  often  swollen  to 
double  its  natural  size.  It  has  been  changed  from  a 
healthy,  compact  mass  of  energetic  cells  and  tubes  to 
an  inactive  mass  of  distended  tubes  and  of  cells  heavily 
loaded  with  fat.  In  other  cases  the  substance  of  the 
gland  shrivels  through  the  effect  of  alcohol. 

After  a  man's  liver  reaches  the  point  where  it  can  do 
no  more  work  for  him,  the  man  dies  and  we  pity  him. 
But  there  are  multitudes  of  other  people  who  drink  less 
and  suffer  quite  as  truly.  By  their  ignorance  of  the  laws 
of  health  and  by  their  free  choice  they  are  setting  a 
limit  to  the  work  which  the  liver  may  do  for  them.  In 
all  probability,  by  their  regular  use  of  alcohol  they  are 
slowly  but  steadily  securing  for  themselves  a  gland 
which  grows  gradually  more  inactive  and  inefficient,  a 
gland  which  by  its  inactivity  is  quietly  preparing  them 
more  easily  to  fall  a  prey  to  diseases  or  to  die  earlier 
than  they  might  have  died.  Life  insurance  societies  know 
this  so  well  that  some  of  them  charge  the  drinker  more 
for  his  life  insurance  than  they  charge  the  non-drinker 
for  the  same  amount  of  insurance. 

Two  other  glands  are  also  greatly  affected  by  alcohol. 
These  are  the  kidneys.  They  lie  on  each  side  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  back,  and  their  structure  is  a  marvel- 
ous arrangement  of  closely  packed  microscopic  tubes 
which  are  netted  about  by  vast  numbers  of  capillaries. 


GLAND  LABORATORIES  INFLUENCED  BY  ALCOHOL  193 

The  special  work  of  the  kidneys  is  to  rid  the  body  of 
many  kinds  of  waste.  This  brings  us  round  to  the 
subject  of  food  again  and  calls  our  attention  to  two 
important  facts  about  the  disposal  of  waste  which  the 
blood  gathers  up : 

1.  If  we  have  eaten  more 
carbohydrate  than  we  need, 
the  surplus  is  stored  up  as 
fat  and  glycogen,  while  the 
waste    takes    the   shape   of 
water  and  of  carbon  dioxid 
gas  which  leaves  the  body 
through  the  lungs. 

2.  If  we  eat  more  meat 
than  we  need,  the  surplus  is 
worked  over  in  the  liver  and 
sent  off  as  waste  through 

the   kidneys.    Moreover,   if    THE  KIDNEYS  AND  THE  BAG 
the  kidneys  are   overtaxed 
in  their  work,  they  fail  to 

1  ,  .  .         .    '  .      1          A,   artery;     B,    vein;      C,    tube 

clear    the    blood     entirely    through    which   water    leaves 
of  its  proteid  waste.    This  the  kidney 

waste  may  then  settle  in  different  parts  of  the  body 
and  result  in  gout,"  rheumatism,  and  kindred  ills. 
Anything,  therefore,  that  interferes  with  the  prompt, 
healthy  action  of  the  kidneys  is  a  misfortune  to  us.    So 
true  is  this  that  many  a  man  with  kidney  trouble  has 


WHICH     THEY     SUPPLY 
WASTE  WATER 


194 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


been  refused  by  insurance  companies  when  he  wished 
to  get  his  life  insured.  Such  business  houses  knowr  that 
a  person  who  has  upset  the  power  of  his  kidneys  is  a 
"  poor  risk."  Because  of  this  intelligent  men  listen  in- 
tently when  scientists  tell  them 
that  alcohol  has  a  direct  effect  on 
the  kidneys  and  that  the  kidneys 
are  specially  affected  by  weak  alco- 
holic drinks  taken  in  large  quanti- 
ties. It  is  indeed  a  fact  recognized 
by  all  doctors  that  those  who  use 
beer  regularly,  even  though  they 
drink  it  moderately,  are  repeatedly 
found  to  have  trouble  with  their 
kidneys. 

Not  only  does  alcohol  make  the 
capillaries  of  liver  and  kidneys  in- 
efficient, but  it  benumbs  the  work- 
ing power  of  each  gland.  It  robs 
them  of  their  ability  to  be  thoroughgoing,  wide-awake 
chemists.  For  this  reason  it  is  as  much  of  a  calamity  for 
these  glands  to  receive  alcohol  as  it  would  be  for  human 
chemists  to  be  made  stupid  by  the  same  alcohol  during 
the  time  that  they  are  carrying  on  important  investiga- 
tions in  a  modern  laboratory. 


A  CUT  THROUGH  THE 
KIDNEY 

Notice  the  clusters  of  slender 
tubes ;  each  separate  one 
might  be  called  a  laboratory 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

HAMPERED   BY  CLOTHING,  OR  ABOVE  AND  BELOW 
THE  DIAPHRAGM 

An  unattractive  woman  is  passing  by  at  the  present 
moment.  Her  shoulders  are  broad,  her  hips  are  large, 
her  waist  looks  like  a  contracted  isthmus  which  is  doing 
its  best  to  hold  two  wide-spreading  peninsulas  together. 
Both  peninsulas  are  awkward  in  their  movements  be- 
cause their  proper  relation  to  the  waist  has  been  lost. 
They  rock  from  side  to  side,  and  the  sight  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  woman  is  not  attractive. 

But  her  outward  appearance  is  the  smallest  part  of 
the  misfortune  of  her  condition.  She  little  suspects  that 
others  know  more  about  her  than  she  would  dare  ac- 
knowledge. Nevertheless  the  facts  are  clear  to  those  of 
us  who  understand  certain  points  about  the  structure  of 
the  human  machine,  and  we  acknowledge  them. 

We  know  that  this  woman  has  something  hard  and  firm 
about  the  middle,  soft  part  of  her  body,  and  that  she  has 
drawn  this  bandage  up  with  such  vigor  that  at  this 
moment  folds  of  crumpled  flesh  lie  in  creases  just 
underneath  the  whalebones  and  the  steel.  We  know 
that  she  is  most  uncomfortable  from  the  pressure,  but 

'95 


196 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


that  she  endures  it  with  a  smiling  face  because  she  thinks 
she  has  made  herself  more  slender  and  beautiful  to  look 
upon.  Her  ignorance  goes  even  farther.  It  makes  her 
willing  to  do  more  than  simply  rob  herself  of  comfort. 
Follow  her  condition  down  through  those  folded  rolls 

of  flesh  and  skin.   Imagine 
that    some    new    kind    of 
X-ray  is  ready  to  reveal  a 
few  miserable  secrets,  and 
count  them  up  for  yourself : 
i.  You   will   find 
yourself    studying    a 
liver  which  is  crowded 
into  such  small  com- 
pass  that   its   capil- 
laries and  tiny  tubes 
are  folded  and  pressed 
upon  each  other  until 
they  labor    under 
enormous    disadvan- 
tage.   This  liver  can- 
not do  good  work  in  preparing  glycogen  from  the 
liquid   food  which  it   has   received,  nor  thoroughly 
purify  venous  blood  of  its  waste,  nor  manufacture 
other  things  from  this  waste.    No  wonder,  then,  that 
the  waste  kept  in  the  system  is  gradually  giving  to 
this  particular  woman  a  dull  complexion.  Few  things 


RIBS  OF  A  YOUNG  WOMAN  WHO  DIED 
AT  THE  AGE  OF  TWENTY-THREE 

(After  Tracy) 


HAMPERED   BY  CLOTHING 


197 


more  quickly  rob  a  face  of  its  bright  pink  and  white 
than  an  inactive  liver.  By  studying  faces  and  waists 
you  will  have  no  trouble  in  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  those  who  lace  are  apt  to  be  the  ones  who  paint 
arid  powder  the  most.  Evidently  they  try  to  conceal 
the  fact  that  the  liver  is  not  doing  full  work  and 
that  the  complexion 
needs  repairs. 

2.  Under  the  band- 
age   the    stomach 
endures    the    same 
pressure  as  the  liver. 
It   has   less   space  in 
which  to  carry  on  its 
operations.    It  is  con- 
sequently so  hampered 
and  hindered  that  in- 
digestion   often   fol- 
lows,   and   nothing   is 
more  fatal  to  a  beau- 
tiful complexion  than  the  results  of  this  condition. 

3.  The  upper  long  folds   of  the   small   intestine 
are  pressed  downwards ;    they,  too,  become  inactive 
and  food  moves  slowly  through  them.   The  disadvan- 
tage in  this  event  is  that  the  longer  the  food  tarries 
on  its  way  the  more  probability  there  is  that  it  will 
decay  and    produce  gas.    Such  gas    is    immensely 


THE  SHAPE  THEY  SHOULD  HAVE  HAD 


198 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


uncomfortable    because    it    stretches    the    walls    of 

stomach  and  tube  alike  and  we  feel  the  stretching. 

Lacing  does  not  always  explain  the  size  of  the  abdomen, 

for  fat  often  settles  there  as  persons  grow  older.  But  when 

a  woman  has  persist- 
ently crowded  her 
intestines  downwards 
they  finally  stay  out 
of  place  without  the 
crowding.  The  walls 
of  her  abdomen  are 
relaxed  and  flabby 
because  they  have 
not  been  able  to  get 
exercise.  Everything 
which  they  inclose 
and  which  they 
should  hold  snugly 
and  firmly  in  place 
is  left  sagging  down- 
wards. Each  organ 
must  therefore  carry 
on  its  business  as 
best  it  can  under  most  unfavorable  conditions. 

This  we  find  to  be  the  state  of  affairs  below  the  dia- 
phragm. But  what  about  the  fate  of  the  diaphragm  itself  ? 
Recall  for  a  moment  what  it  is  and  what  it  does  for  us. 


INSIDE  ORGANS  THAT  WERE  SQUEEZED 
WHEN  SHE  LACED 


HAMPERED  BY  CLOTHING  199 

In  a  way  it  may  be  hard  to  think  of  ourselves  as  a 
double-story  set  of  apartments,  but  such  we  are.  For 
stretching  across  us  from  side  to  side,  a  little  above  the 
waist  line,  is  a  strong,  broad,  elastic  partition  of  muscle 
called  the  diaphragm.  Below  it  lie  liver,  stomach,  in- 
testines, and  other  important  organs ;  above  it  are  the 
heart  and  lungs  with  the  large  and  small  tubes  which  be- 
long to  them.  Through  the  diaphragm  go  several  good- 
sized  tubes,  a  large  artery,  a  large  vein,  and  the  tube 
which  carries  food  from  the  mouth  to  the  stomach. 

Above  the  diaphragm,  then,  we  find  the  organs  of 
respiration  and  circulation,  while  below  it  lie  the  organs 
of  digestion  and  the  great  gland,  the  liver.  Above  the 
diaphragm  blood  is  ridding  itself  of  carbon  dioxid ;  be- 
low the  diaphragm  blood  is  getting  supplies  of  nourish- 
ment to  carry  to  the  tissues  of  the  entire  body. 

But  what  active  share  does  the  diaphragm  take  in  all 
this  ?  Find  out  for  yourself.  Draw  a  deep  breath.  You 
may  perhaps  think  that  you  are  simply  expanding  your 
chest  to  the  utmost.  The  truth  is,  however,  that  the 
drawing  of  your  breath  means  that  you  are  not  only 
raising  your  ribs  but  also  contracting  your  diaphragm 
from  every  side.  A  healthy  person  in  hygienic  clothing 
can  prove  it  in  this  way :  Lay  your  hand  on  your  chest 
and  take  pains  that  the  chest  shall  make  absolutely  no 
movement.  You  will  find  that  you  can  breathe  quite  well 
by  letting  the  abdomen  expand  and  contract  without  the 


200  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

least  motion  of  the  ribs.  By  doing  so  you  have  flattened 
down  the  dome  shape  which  it  usually  has.  When  you  can 
contract  it  no  farther  you  know  that  your  lungs  cannot 
be  forced  to  hold  more  air.  This  we  call  forced  breathing. 
Through  it  you  have  forced  your  lungs  to  their  full  size. 

But  natural  daily  breathing  is  no  less  dependent  on 
the  diaphragm.  This  muscle  is  indeed  the  largest  and 
the  strongest  breathing  muscle  we  have.  When  it  con- 
tracts air  rushes  into  the  lungs,  and  the  upper  story  of 
the  body  grows  larger,  while  all  that  lies  in  the  lower 
story  is  exercised  by  the  pressure  of  the  diaphragm  down 
upon  it.  When  again  the  diaphragm  relaxes,  the  pres- 
sure is  lifted,  air  is  squeezed  out  of  the  lungs,  and  the 
upper  cavity  is  smaller  again. 

Liver  and  stomach  also  receive  decided  help  from 
this  rhythmic  exercise,  which  continues  throughout  the 
days  and  the  years  of  our  lives.  And  the  ignorant  lady 
who  laces  implies  that  she  is  ignorant  by  her  willing- 
ness to  interfere  with  the  healthful,  regular  action  of  her 
tireless  diaphragm.  By  putting  pressure  on  her  lowest 
ribs  and  also  on  the  organs  contained  both  in  her  chest 
and  in  her  abdomen  she  limits  the  work  which  her  dia- 
phragm can  do  not  only  for  her  lungs  but  also  for  her 
liver  and  stomach  and  small  intestine.  Moreover,  she 
keeps  these  organs  under  such  constant  outside  pres- 
sure that  they  have  no  chance  for  the  relaxation  which 
is  also'  of  importance  to  them. 


THE  DIAPHRAGM  WHEN  IT  is  RELAXED 
The  organs  from  above  it  and  below  it  have  been  removed 


201 


2O2 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 


Place  your  hands  on  opposite  sides  of  your  body, 
crowd  in  your  ribs,  and  come  to  your  own  conclusions 
as  to  what  you  have  done  to  your  lungs  and  to  your 
heart.  You  cannot  conceal  the  fact  that  you  have 
crowded  multitudes  of  lung  cells  out  of  service,  thus 


EXERCISES  WHICH  MAY  BE  TAKEN  TO  STRENGTHEN  THE  MUSCLES 
OF  THE  ABDOMINAL    WALL 

(After  Schmidt) 

robbing   the   blood  of    oxygen,  and   that    your  heart   is 
pressed  against  by  the  surrounding  lungs. 

When  the  most  important  servants  of  the  body  are 
left  to  the  power  of  the  foolish  hands  of  a  woman  who 
is  ignorant  about  her  own  structure,  and  when  these 


HAMPERED   BY  CLOTHING  203 

hands  give  cruel  treatment  to  servants  which  do  her 
hardest  work  for  her,  is  it  strange  that  rebellion  follows  ? 
Is  it  surprising  that  "liver  trouble"  and  gas  and  head- 
ache and  the  blues  and  unhappiness  and  nervousness 
fill  the  woman  with  lamentation  ? 

In  the  face  of  the  fashion  plates  and  the  laced-up 
ladies  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  hardly  ever  does  a  woman 
or  a  girl  acknowledge  that  her  clothes  are  too  snug  for 
comfort  or  for  health.  She  generally  assures  us  that 
they  are  really  loose. 

We  ourselves  may  of  course  be  exceptions ;  but  we 
must  remember  that  even  slight  pressure  long  continued 
is  harmful. 

Test  yourself.  Stand  with  your  back  to  the  wall,  with 
head,  heels,  and  elbows  touching  it.  Draw  a  long,  deep 
breath.  Can  you  do  this  without  feeling  that  bands, 
strings,  buttons,  or  hooks  are  being  pulled  at  rather 
vigorously?  If  at  the  same  time  you  have  no  weight 
of  clothes  dragging  down  on  your  abdomen  you  may 
count  yourself  as  well  tested ;  you  have  passed  the  ex- 
amination and  may  congratulate  yourself  that  you  are 
not  preparing  your  body  for  defeat  later  in  life.  If,  how- 
ever, you  feel  the  pressure  of  something  that  binds  you, 
you  need  to  make  a  change  somewhere.  Bands  and  belts 
should  always  be  large  enough  to  allow  us  to  do  our  or- 
dinary breathing  without  feeling  that  we  are  hampered 
by  our  clothing.  When  we  take  unusual  exercise  we 


204  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

breathe  deeper,  expanding  our  lungs  more,  and  our 
garments  should  be  proportionately  loose. 

It  is  unwise  both  for  growing  girls  and  for  grown 
women  to  hold  their  skirts  in  place  by  strings  drawn 
tight  about  the  waist.  A  yoke  to  the  skirt  is  better,  or 
skirts  may  be  carried  by  straps  or  by  waists  that  hang 
from  the  shoulders.  In  other  words,  weight  should  not 
be  allowed  to  drag  down  on  the  abdomen.  Learn-  to 
protect  the  strength  and  the  shape  of  your  abdominal 
wall  by  putting  it  under  such  conditions  as  will  leave 
it  firm  and  useful  when  you  are  grown.  Remember  that 
the  better  you  can  breathe  and  the  more  freely  gland 
laboratories  are  allowed  to  do  their  work  the  better  able 
will  you  be  to  endure  the  strain  of  life  and  to  resist 
disease  of  every  sort. 

Even  now  multitudes  of  well-informed  women  dress 
according  to  their  knowledge  of  these  facts,  and  the 
same  knowledge  is  spreading  so  fast  among  the  young 
that  from  the  signs  of  the  times  it  looks  as  if  small, 
deformed  waists  would  soon  be  as  unfashionable  as  are 
the  small,  deformed  feet  of  a  Chinese  lady. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS 

Okushiri  is  an  island  in  the  beautiful  sea  of  Japan. 
It  is  about  fourteen  miles  long  and  lies  not  far  from 
the  coast  of  the  large  island  of  Nippon. 

When  the  events  now  to  be  recorded  took  place  the 
population  of  Okushiri  numbered  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty.  A  mere  handful  of  poor  fishermen  they  seemed 
to  be,  but  from  their  obscurity  and  their  poverty  they 
raised  themselves  into  fame  and  prosperity. 

In  1884  these  people  were  distributed  in  four  villages. 
They  lived  in  houses  made  of  grass,  supported  them- 
selves by  fishing,  had  but  four  roads  and  but  one  school. 
Worst  of  all  a  famine  threatened,  for  the  price  of  food 
was  high  and  their  own  catch  of  herring  had  been  so 
small  that  year  that  they  had  little  money  with  which 
to  buy  other  kinds  of  food. 

One  thing,  however,  they  had  to  comfort  them  in  their 
poverty.  They  speak  of  it  themselves :  "  The  people  have 
no  other  pleasure  for  body  and  mind  than  in  the  use  of 
sake.1  Nine  out  of  ten  of  us  like  the  liquid,  and  what  we 
annually  spend  for  the  same  is  not  small." 

1  The  national  alcoholic  drink 
205 


2o6  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

To  us  who  read  about  it  the  amount  of  sake  which 
they  used  seems  very  large,  for  we  are  told  that  during 
the  single  year  of  1884  the  inhabitants  of  Okushiri  im- 
ported eight  hundred  and  eighty  casks  of  sake  for  their 
own  use,  and  had  besides  a  goodly  stock  of  brandy  and 
other  drinks.  They  intended  to  be  well  provided  with 
J:his  one  thing  which  consoled  them  in  their  misery  and 
helped  them  to  forget  their  hunger. 

Happily,  however,  there  are  as  wise  men  in  Japan  as 
in  other  lands.  And,  most  happily  for  the  fishermen,  one 
of  these  wise  men  was  governor  of  the  district  of  Japan 
to  which  Okushiri  belongs.  When,  therefore,  this  gov- 
ernor made  his  regular  visit  to  the  island  in  1884  and 
saw  the  poverty  of  the  people,  —  saw  that  famine  threat- 
ened them  for  the  winter,  and  also  saw  how  well  pre- 
pared they  were  to  comfort  themselves  with  their  sake, 
their  brandy,  and  their  other  drinks,  he  gave  the  subject 
close  attention. 

Furthermore,  he  made  an  estimate  of  the  size  of  their 
drink  bill  for  the  year,  and  his  figures  proved  that  they 
were  spending  money  out  of  all  proportion  to  what 
they  earned  on  sake  which  did  not  nourish  them, 
when  they  were  in  sad  need  of  the  same  money  for  food 
which  would  nourish  them. 

Being  a  clear-headed  man  he  had  no  doubt  as  to 
what  should  be  done,  and  he  urged  the  people  to  turn 
the  tables  immediately.  He  begged  them  to  provide 


FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS      207 

for  the  future  by  saving  what  they  were  really  wasting 
in  the  present. 

Evidently  these  fisher  folk  had  logical  minds,  for  they 
gave  heed  to  his  counsel.  They  acknowledged  that  their 
debtors  could  not  pay  them  what  they  owed,  that  some 
of  their  own  number  would  have  to  depend  on  the 
government  for  food,  and  that  the  condition  required 
an  immediate,  desperate  remedy.  Those  who  were  most 
deeply  impressed  .by  the  situation  drew  up  a  formal 
statement  in  which  they  said : 

We  are  in  misery,  and  to  save  ourselves  from  the  wretched  state  of 
things  we  must  have  recourse  to  some  extraordinary  means.  Frugality 
is  to  be  resorted  to,  and  vanity  of  all  sorts  must  be  set  aside.  We,  there- 
fore, before  all  others  will  abstain  from  the  use  of  what  we  relish  more 
than  all  other  things  —  sake  —  and  thus  close  the  way  of  importation 
of  the  liquid  into  this  island.  The  money  we  should  spend  for  it  will  be 
spent  for  rice  and  other  grains,  and  thus  we  will  provide  for  our  future 
wants  on  the  one  hand  and  will  increase  our  capital  in  fishery  on  the  other. 

In  carrying  out  this  determination,  those  who  origi- 
nated the  plan  drew  up  a  formal  document  in  order  that 
they  "might  secure,"  as  they  said,  "the  prosperity  of  the 
island."  They  called  upon  all  those  "  who  like  to  share 
in  our  privation  for  the  good  of  the  public  and  the 
future  "  to  "come  speedily  and  sign  the  contract."  This 
was  in  July,  1884. 

The  document  which  the  islanders  were  asked  to 
sign  held  ten  different  statements,  which  were  put  in 


208  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

the  form  of  a  contract.  Those  who  signed  this  contract 
pledged  themselves  neither  to  buy  nor  to  sell  alcoholic 
liquor  of  any  sort  for  five  years,  and  to  give  no  aid  to 
such  inhabitants  of  Okushiri  as  persisted  in  the  buying 
or  the  selling  of  it.  For  any  breaking  of  the  contract 
there  was  a  heavy  fine,  and  all  such  fines  were  to  be 
spent  in  buying  rice,  which  should  then  be  hoarded  in  a 
common  granary.  Those  who  bought  alcohol  were  to  be 
fined  half  as  much  as  those  who  sold  it.  All  immigrants 
from  other  provinces  were  to  be  taught  promptly  about 
the  prohibition  plans  of  the  island,  and  no  one  was 
to  be  admitted  who  did  not  understand  the  situation 
thoroughly.  Such  persons  as  bought  alcoholic  liquor  in 
any  form  from  passing  ships  or  boats  were  to  be  taxed 
to  the  full  extent  of  the  law. 

Last  of  all,  the  following  statement  was  distinctly 
made: 

This  contract  is  to  be  in  force  for  five  years ;  and  when  the  provi- 
sion for  years  of  scarcity  is  fully  made  and  each  and  everybody  is  able 
to  lead  an  independent  life,  proper  changes  shall  be  made  upon  further 
deliberation. 

One  hundred  and  seventeen  Okushiri  islanders  signed 
the  contract.  It  was  rigidly  enforced  for  five  years,  and 
at  the  end  of  this  time  still  other  records  show  what  the 
results  were. 

It  was  now  1890.  Not  a  drunkard  was  left  on  the 
island.  Some  had  been  reformed  by  giving  up  the 


FOOD  OR  DRINK  FOR  OKUSHIRI  ISLANDERS     209 

drinking  habit.  Others  who  were  too  weak  to  change 
had  gone  elsewhere  to  live.  Those  who  stayed  had  pros- 
pered greatly,  while  their  numbers  had  increased  five- 
fold. The  money  which  they  had  put  into  the  fishing 
industry  had  multiplied  itself  by  ten.  They  had  even 
started  a  new  line  of  work,  for  now  they  raised  their  own 
hemp  and  made  their  own  fish  nets.  Their  houses  were 
larger  and  better  made,  their  schools  had  improved  in 
quality  and  in  numbers,  additional  roads  had  been  con- 
structed, and  there  was  less  crime.  From  being  spoken 
of  with  pity  by  neighboring  islands,  as  was  previously 
the  case,  these  fishermen  were  now  referred  to  as  "the 
prosperous  people  of  Okushiri." 

The  five  years  had  certainly  brought  good  results. 
Okushiri  islanders  were  no  longer  a  poor  and  miser- 
able people.  Famine  did  not  threaten  them  now.  Was 
it  necessary,  then,  to  keep  sake  and  brandy  out  of  the 
island  any  longer  ?  This  was  the  great  question  of  the  day 
for  Okushiri  in  1890.  They  discussed  it  thoroughly  and 
answered  it  by  deciding  that  for  still  another  stretch  of 
five  years  they  would  travel  by  the  road  which  had  led 
them  to  such  happy  results.  According  to  last  reports 
they  were  still  going  without  alcohol  and  were  still 
prospering. 

In  other  lands  those  who  are  interested  in  the  ques- 
tion of  profit  and  loss  have  asked  themselves  whether  or 
not  it  is  a  good  investment  to  put  money  into  daily 


210  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

drinks  of  beer.  They  have  looked  into  the  matter  quite 
as  thoroughly  as  did  the  governor  of  Okushiri,  and  have 
come  upon  a  striking  set  of  facts.  By  making  careful 
inquiry  about  prevailing  prices  in  America  in  1908  they 
found  that  if  a  person  should  drink  three  glasses  of  beer 
a  day  during  one  year  he  would  spend  on  this  drink 
alone  enough  to  buy  the  following  articles.  They  are 
placed  one  under  the  other  that  they  may  be  read  easily. 

i  barrel  of  flour 
50  pounds  of  sugar 
20  pounds  of  cornstarch 
i  o  pounds  of  macaroni 
10  quarts  of  beans 

4  twelve-pound  hams 

i  bushel  sweet  potatoes 
3  bushels  Irish  potatoes 
10  pounds  of  coffee 
10  pounds  of  raisins 
10  pounds  of  rice 
20  pounds  of  crackers 
100  bars  of  soap 

3  twelve-pound  turkeys 

5  quarts  of  cranberries 
10  bunches  of  celery 

10  pounds  of  prunes 

4  dozen  of  oranges 

10  pounds  of  mixed  nuts 
3  tons  of  coal  at  five  dollars  a  ton 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THAT    WHICH   DESTROYS,  AND   HOW    MEN    SAVE 
THEMSELVES 

On  the  eighteenth  of  December,  1902,  in  the  city  of 
Paris,  France,  a  report  was  made  by  a  committee  of  the 
government.  The  state  officials  considered  this  report  so 
valuable  that  they  ordered  copies  of  it  printed  as  posters 
in  large  black  letters  on  a  white  background.  In  France 
none  but  state  officials  are  allowed  to  print  posters  thus 
in  black  and  white.  When  such  appear,  therefore,  they 
are  read,  because  they  come  from  the  government. 

These  posters  were  placarded  here  and  there  on  the 
important  buildings  of  the  city.  They  were  put  on  the 
walls  and  in  the  corridors  of  hospitals,  on  the  streets,  in 
the  post  offices,  and  even  on  the  outside  wall  of  the  great 
Hotel  de  Ville,  where  the  business  of  the  city  is  carried  on. 

A  few  extracts  will  show  what  it  was  that  the  govern- 
ment wished  to  proclaim  in  this  public  way. 

DRAFTED    BY 

PROFESSOR  DEBOVE,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine, 
DR.  FAISANS,  Physician  to  the  Hotel  Dieu. 

Alcoholism  is  chronic  poisoning  resulting  from  the  habitual  use  of 
alcohol,  even  when  this  is  not  taken  in  amounts  sufficient  to  produce 


211 


212  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

drunkenness.  Alcohol  is  useful  to  nobody,  it  is  harmful  to  all.  It  leads, 
at  the  very  least,  to  the  hospital,  for  alcoholism  causes  a  great  variety 
of  diseases,  many  of  them  most  deadly.  It  is  one  of  the  most  frequent 
causes  of  consumption.  Typhoid  fever,  pneumonia,  or  erysipelas,  which 
would  be  mild  in  a  sober  individual,  will  rapidly  kill  the  alcoholic. 
Alcoholism  is  one  of  the  most  frightful  scourges,  whether  it  be  regarded 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  health  of  the  individual,  of  the  existence 
of  the  family,  or  of  the  future  of  the  country. 

Paris  does  not  stand  alone  in  this  protest  against  alco- 
hol. Through  the  recent  revelations  of  science  every 
country  is  roused  at  last.  The  most  ambitious  nations 
recognize  the  fact  that  they  themselves  are  strong  or 
weak  in  proportion  as  their  individual  citizens  have 
strong  or  weak  bodies. 

This,  then,  explains  the  activity  against  alcohol  which 
appears  in  many  lands.  Anti-alcohol  leagues  and  socie- 
ties comprise  tens  of  thousands  of  men  and  women 
who  know  that  alcohol  is  more  dangerous  than  fire  as 
a  plaything.  "  Let  a  man  know  the  facts,"  they  say, 
uand  if  he  is  wise  he  will  no  more  risk  his  life  by  drink- 
ing alcohol  than  by  jumping  into  a  burning  building." 
These  societies,  therefore,  do  their  work  by  printing 
and  distributing  facts  about  the  effects  of  alcohol  on 
body,  mind,  and  character.  And  the  material  which 
they  have  gathered  covers  thousands  of  pages. 

In  Germany  alone,  previous  to  1908,  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-one  books  were  printed  which  discussed 


THAT  WHICH  DESTROYS  213 

the  question  of  alcohol.  Thirty-seven  newspapers,  maga- 
zines, and  annuals  devoted  themselves  to  the  same  sub- 
ject ;  and  hundreds  of  articles  about  alcohol  were  printed 
in  the  important  magazines  of  that  country. 

The  prominent  men  in  this  great  German  movement 
are  the  professors  of  physiology  in  German  universities. 
Indeed,  the  matter  has  gone  so  far  in  Germany  that,  in 
1907  one  hundred  leading  professors  in  the  leading  uni- 
versities, signed  a  declaration  which  included  the  follow- 
ing statements: 

All  the  prevalent  ideas  in  regard  to  the  invigorating  and  otherwise 
supposedly  beneficial  properties  of  alcohol  in  small  doses  have  been 
proved  erroneous  by  scientific  research.  Moderate  drinking  has  a 
tendency  to  make  the  human  body  more  liable  to  disease  and  to 
shorten  life. 

The  Imperial  Health  Office  in  Berlin  is  sending  out 
arguments  against  using  alcohol  as  a  drink ;  and  the 
brother-in-law  of  the  emperor,  Count  Douglas,  is  one  of 
the  most  earnest  wrorkers  in  the  anti-alcohol  campaign. 
Many  of  these  men  in  Germany  advocate  going  with- 
out alcohol  entirely.  They  say,  "  The  abstainer  alone  is 
doing  his  duty." 

In  Sweden  the  royal  family  is  noted  for  the  number 
of  those  who  practice  total  abstinence.  It  was  the 
crown  prince  himself  who  gave  the  address  of  welcome 
to  the  great  temperance  gathering  that  met  in  Stock- 
holm in  1907. 


214  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

In  Japan  the  law  of  the  land  forbids  the  sale  of 
alcoholic  drinks  to  those  who  are  under  twenty  years 
of  age. 

In  the  United  States,  in  1908,  over  thirty-six  million 
people  in  different  cities,  districts,  and  states  were  living 
under  laws  which  prohibit  the  sale  of  alcohol  in  their 
neighborhood.  The  people  themselves  have  made  these 
laws  for  their  own  protection.  Sometimes,  however, 
there  is  great  excitement,  with  danger  of  defeat.  This 
was  true  for  Indian  Territory  in  1905  ;  and  the  history 
of  the  struggle  is  a  sequel  to  the  twenty-seventh  chapter 
of  Town  and  City.  It  continues  the  tale  of  the  rela- 
tion of  America  to  the  Indians  and  to  their  protection 
against  alcohol. 

For  seventy-two  years  the  government  of  the  United 
States  kept  its  promise  to  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes, 
and  without  alcohol  the  Indians  prospered  so  well  that 
it  did  not  occur  to  them  that  they  could  ever  again  be 
in  danger  from  intoxicating  liquors  sold  in  public.  But 
in  course  of  time  there  was  danger,  and  it  came  about 
in  this  way. 

The  great  event  for  every  territory  in  America  is 
when  it  can  count  up  inhabitants  enough  to  allow  it  to 
be  changed  from  a  territory  to  a  state ;  for  when  this 
time  arrives  it  may  send  senators  and  representatives  to 
Congress,  and  may  do  its  part  in  governing  the  entire 
country  as  well  as  itself.  Before  this  day  dawns  each 


THAT  WHICH  DESTROYS  215 

territory  is  treated  as  a  child  and  governed  from  head- 
quarters in  Washington.  We  see,  then,  why  a  territory 
is  about  as  proud  to  become  a  state  and  a  voter  as  a 
boy  is  to  become  a  man  and  a  voter.  Yet  it  was  this 
very  chance  to  be  a  state  that  brought  the  danger  to 
Indian  Territory  in  1905. 

For  some  time  there  had  been  talk  about  changing 
three  western  territories  —  New  Mexico,  Oklahoma,  and 
Indian  Territory  —  into  states;  and  at  last  it  looked  as 
if  Congress  would  do  it.  Naturally,  of  course,  everything 
that  is  said  or  written  at  such  a  time  is  carefully  fol- 
lowed by  those  who  are  specially  interested.  We  may 
then  imagine  the  astonishment,  even  the  terror,  of  the 
Indians,  when  they  saw  that  according  to  the  proposals 
that  were  being  made,  the  government  was  likely  to 
give  up  all  responsibility  in  the  matter  of  prohibiting 
the  sale  of  alcohol  in  their  territory.  In  which  case,  after 
Indian  Territory  should  become  a  state,  any  liquor  dealer 
in  the  land  would  be  quite  at  liberty  to  carry  on  his 
business  there. 

Not  alone  Indians,  but  white  residents  of  Indian 
Territory  as  well,  were  ready  to  protest  against  this. 
They  had  gone  to  the  place  to  be  rid  of  the  crime 
and  the  taxes  that  liquor  brings,  and  were  not  at  all  in- 
clined to  give  up  their  freedom  without  a  struggle. 

But  the  situation  was  even  worse  than  at  first  ap- 
peared. Look  at  a  map  of  the  United  States  and  notice 


2l6  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

that  Texas  is  south  of  Indian  Territory  and  Arkansas 
east  of  it.  Now  both  of  these  states  had  already  voted 
saloons  out  of  more  than  two  thirds  of  their  area.  Be- 
sides this,  other  states  north  and  east  were  also  crowd- 
ing saloons  out  of  one  district  after  another.  The  result 

was  that  thousands  of  those  who  wished  to  sell  alcohol 
.  « 

and  thousands  of  those  who  wished  to  buy  it  had  been 
forced  out  of  business  and  were  eagerly  ready  for  the 
new  opening. 

The  inhabitants  of  Indian  Territory  were  convinced 
that  if  the  government  of  the  United  States  should 
cease  to  protect  them  from  alcoholic  drinks,  many  dis- 
lodged and  undesirable  citizens  from  elsewhere  would 
crowd  in  like  famished  wolves  and  would  try  to  com- 
pensate themselves  for  having  been  thrust  out  of  other 
places.  For  this  purpose,  indeed,  unscrupulous  men  were 
using  their  money  and  their  influence  to  try  to  induce 
the  United  States  Senate  to  break  its  promise.  They 
were  ready  to  sacrifice  even  the  honor  of  their  country 
for  the  sake  of  getting  alcohol  into  the  new  state. 

There  was  still  another  party  at  work,  however.  Nor 
was  this  strange,  for  when  a  great  calamity  threatens  to 
overwhelm  a  people,  all  good  citizens  are  ready  to  join 
hands  for  the  rescue.  Indians  now  held  meetings  and 
conferences.  They  worked  and  protested.  Their  white 
fellow-citizens  sent  delegates  to  talk  with  senators  and 
with  different  members  of  important  committees  in 


THAT  WHICH  DESTROYS  217 

Washington.  They  kept  the  country  informed  as  to 
what  the  danger  was  and  how  things  were  going.  They 
let  certain  suspected  senators  know  that  if  they  should 
betray  the  government  by  voting  to  break  its  solemn 
promise,  the  honest  people  of  the  entire  country  would 
be  outraged  and  would  do  all  they  could  to  prevent 
them  from  being  sent  to  Congress  again. 

Among  the  senators  themselves  there  were  those  who 
said  that  rather  than  have  the  government  disgrace 
itself  by  a  broken  promise  of  this  sort,  they  would  vote 
against  having  Indian  Territory  become  a  state  at  all. 
In  which  case,  the  prohibition  laws  would  stay  as  they 
had  been. 

The  agitation  lasted  for  two  years.  Then  the  senators 
did  what  was  honest.  They  even  made  that  part  of  the 
country  safer  than  before,  for  they  joined  Indian  Terri- 
tory to  Oklahoma,  gave  the  name  Oklahoma  to  the 
new  state,  and  enacted  a  temperance  law  which  will  do 
its  part  in  saving  Oklahoma  from  alcohol.  The  follow- 
ing words  are  taken  from  the  new  law: 

The  manufacture,  sale,  barter,  and  giving  away  of  intoxicating  liquors 
within  this  state  is  hereby  prohibited  for  a  period  of  twenty-one  years 
after  the  date  of  the  admission  of  this  state  into  the  Union,  and  there- 
after until  the  people  of  this  state  shall  otherwise  provide  by  amend- 
ment of  this  constitution. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  value  of  the  work  which 
certain  scientists  did  in  1775.  These  men  were  anxious 
to  know  how  much  heat  the  body  of  man  can  endure 
and  still  keep  at  its  work.  For  the  sake  of  making  no 
great  blunder,  they  began  their  tests  by  passing  from 
one  heated  room  to  another  until  they  found  themselves 
living  and  breathing  in  a  room  in  which  the  thermome- 
ter showed  a  heat  of  210°  F.1  This  is  but  two  degrees 
cooler  than  the  temperature  which  water  needs  for 
boiling. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  air  of  the  room  felt  very 
hot.  One  man,  however,  stayed  in  it  for  ten  minutes. 
During  this  time  the  heat  was  so  great  that  it  twisted 
and  broke  the  ivory  frames  of  all  the  thermometers  but 
one.  More  than  this,  the  air  which  the  man  inhaled  was 
so  much  hotter  than  that  which  he  exhaled,  that,  with 
each  breath  which  he  drew,  he  felt  as  if  he  were  scorch- 
ing his  nostrils.  But  with  each  exhalation  his  nostrils 
were  cooled  again.  He  took  the  thermometer  in  his 
hand  and  blew  on  it.  At  once  the  mercury  sank  in  the 

1  Fahrenheit. 
218 


PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN  219 

tube,  showing  that  his  breath  was  cooler  than  the  room. 
He  blew  on  his  fingers  and  they  were  cooled  too. 

In  another  experiment  afterwards,  the  same  men  went 
into  a  small  room  which  was  even  hotter  than  any 
they  had  been  in  before.  Here  the  thermometer  showed 
260°  F.  This,  then,  was  forty-eight  degrees  hotter  than 
water  needs  for  boiling.  As  they  entered,  the  air  felt 
hot  but  they  could  bear  it.  And  while  they  stayed 
there  they  did  various  things  to  show  what  the  heat  of 
the  room  was  able  to  accomplish.  They  took  a  piece  of 
raw  beefsteak,  left  it  uncovered,  took  a  pair  of  bellows, 
blew  the  heated  air  across  the  steak  for  thirteen  minutes, 
and  found  that  it  was  rather  overcooked.  An  egg  was 
roasted  hard  in  twenty  minutes ;  water  soon  boiled  and 
bubbled;  watch  chains  became  too  hot  to  be  touched; 
and  rings  had  to  be  left  off,  lest  the  heated  metal  should 
burn  a  deep  circle  about  the  tender  flesh  of  the  finger. 
Leather  shoes  could  not  be  worn,  for  the  leather  itself 
curled  up  and  was  ruined. 

All  this  happened  to  their  possessions,  but  the  men 
themselves,  although  surrounded  by  the  same  heated  air, 
were  neither  boiled  nor  roasted.  They  lived  and  breathed 
in  the  place,  escaped  alive,  and  their  escape  was  no 
miracle.  It  was  explained  by  the  power  of  the  sweat 
glands.  If  these  small  laboratories  had  stayed  inactive, 
the  scientists  might  have  suffered  from  the  heat  even  as 
did  the  steak.  But  their  glands  were  able  to  save  them. 


220 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


As  soon  as  the  men  entered  the  heated  room  the 
sweat  glands  began  their  work;  perspiration  was  manu- 
factured in  quantities;  it  poured  from  the  open  flues  of 
countless  small  laboratories  and  emptied  itself  upon  the 
skin,  whence  it  was  evaporated.  Thus  perspiration  kept 
the  skin  moist,  and  the  evaporation  of 
the  moisture  kept  the  surface  of  the  body 
cool  enough  to  save  it  from  being  cooked. 
Certainly  the  men  were  uncomfortable 
from  first  to  last,  but  they  did  not  suffer. 
The  record  of  these  experiments  is 
given  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  for  the 
year  1775. 

If  you  ever  have  the  chance,  watch 
the  streaming,  steaming  backs  of  such 
men  as  pitch  coal  into  the  huge  furnace 
of  an  ocean  liner.  There  you  will  see  the 
same  work  of  protection  carried  on  by 
these  tireless  glands.  Their  exact  number 
is  unknown,  but  by  counting  a  few,  in  a 
small  area  of  the  skin,  and  by  multiplying  this  number 
by  the  extent  of  the  surface  of  the  body,  men  estimate 
that  each  of  us  is  supplied  with  about  two  million  sweat- 
gland  laboratories.  All  are  slightly  busy  most  of  the 
time,  but  only  extraordinarily  busy  when  emergencies 
overtake  the  body. 


A  SWEAT  GLAND 

AND  ITS  OUTLET 

ON  THE  SKIN 


PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN  221 

Just  here  review  your  knowledge  of  the  skin  and  of 
perspiration  as  learned  in   Good  Health: 

1.  The  outside  layer  of  the  skin  is  called  epider- 
mis.   It  can  be  cut  or  pricked  without  giving  pain. 
It  protects  all  that  lies  underneath  it,  in  the  second 
layer  of  the  skin. 

2.  The  second  layer  —  the  dermis  —  holds  capil- 
laries, nerve  fibers,  hair  cells  with  their  muscles  and 
oil  glands,  sweat  glands,  and  pigment  cells.    These 
last   contain    coloring    matter  —  pigment  —  which 
gives  one  boy  freckles  and  another  boy  tan ;  which 
makes   one  man   brown   and   another  man  yellow. 
Both  nails  and  hair  are  constantly  being  formed  in 
the  dermis  and  pushed  upward.1 

3.  Perspiration  is  a  mixture  of  water  and  waste. 
It  is  poured  out  by  the  sweat  glands  when  the  body 
is  heated  or  exercised.    The  water  soon  evaporates 
and  cools  the  skin.    The  waste  stays  on  the  skin 
and  must  be  washed  or  rubbed   off;   otherwise   it 
mixes  with  oil  from  the  oil  glands,  with  bits  of  epi- 
dermis, with  dust  from  the  clothes  and  from  the  air, 
and  stays  like  a  snug,  thin,  perfectly  fitting  coat  on 
the  outside  of  the  body  from  head  to  heel.    A  thick 
wrap  of  this  sort  interferes  with  the  healthy  action 
of  the  skin,  and  gives  off  an  unpleasant  smell.    It 
may  be    removed    by   a    hard,   dry   rub,    and   it   is 

1  Full  directions  about  the  care  of  both  are  given  in  Good  Health. 


222 


THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 


important  to  take  the  rub  when- 
ever a  bath  is  out  of  the  question. 

Since  the  skin  is  so  well  provided 
with  blood  vessels,  it  is  natural  that 
small  wounds  should  heal  quickly. 
Even  when  a  patch  of  skin  is  entirely 
destroyed  by  being  scalded  or  burned, 
there  is  such  power  of  life  left  along 
the  edges,  that  new  skin  grows  out 
from  it  day  by  day  until  the  chasm 
is  entirely  covered. 

But  there  is  a  limit  to  what  can 
be  done  in  this  direction,  and  at  such 
times  doctors  step  in  with  their  won- 
derful help  from  grafted  skin. 

For  each  of  us,  however,  there  is 
something  far  more  important  than 
hot  ovens,  burned  flesh,  and  the  graft- 
ing of  the  skin.  It  is  not  probable 
that  we  ourselves  shall  meet  these 
A,  homy  layer  of  epider-  terrible  experiences.  But  a  very  prac- 

mis;    B,  deeper  layer  of       .  . 

epidermis;   c,  duct  of  tical,   everyday   danger   is   always   at 

sweat  gland;  D  dermis ;     hand      W  t    k  jj  through  Qur 

E,   connective    tissue   in  •>  & 

which  the  black  lines  rep-  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  skin  health 

resent  blood  vessels  .      . 

and  vigor.  Let  us  therefore  remember 
that  the  skin  is  constantly  covered  with  a  slight  mois- 
ture called  insensible  perspiration,  and  that  when  there  is 


CUT  THROUGH  THE 
LAYERS  OF  THE  SKIN 


BY  THE  SKIN  223 

enough  of  this  moisture  to  be  noticed  it  is  called  sensible 
perspiration.  The  purpose  of  perspiration  is  to  cool  the 
body  whenever  it  is  in  danger  of  getting  overheated. 
For  the  sake  of  grasping  the  situation  more  clearly  bear 
the  following  facts  in  mind : 

1.  When  a  man  is  heated  from  exercise,  capillaries 
in  the  exercised  part  of  the  body  are  stretched  out 
with  the  blood  which  is  forced  into  them. 

2.  If  a  heated  man,  covered  with  perspiration,  sits 
in  a  draft,  his  blood  is  cooled,  the  capillaries  of  the 
skin  contract,  and  the  mass  of  the  blood  goes  to 
some  other  place. 

3.  When  this  occurs,  the  linings  of  nose,  throat, 
lungs,  and  intestines  are  apt  to  be  overcrowded  by 
the  blood  which  has  been  forced  into  them  from  the 
skin,  and  the  most  sensitive  lining  suffers  most. 

Usually  the  first  symptom  of  a  cold  is  that  a  man 
feels  stuffy  in  nose,  throat,  or  lungs.  The  explanation  of 
the  feeling  is  the  distended  capillaries,  with  another  fact 
added.  Although  red  corpuscles  continue  to  deal  with 
oxygen  as  they  have  always  done,  still  the  white  corpus- 
cles are  now  behaving  strangely.  They  get  together, 
many  of  them  stick  to  the  inside  walls  all  along  the 
length  of  the  capillaries,  and  the  more  inactive  they  are, 
the  less  do  they  seize  and  destroy  intruding  microbes. 
These  microbes,  therefore,  remain  in  the  blood  and  con- 
tinue such  mischief  as  their  nature  makes  possible. 


224  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

When  a  man  has  a  cold  the  trouble  often  is  that  in- 
fluenza microbes  have  escaped  the  white  corpuscles  and 
have  firmly  established  themselves  in  the  part  of  the 
body  which  is  congested  with  blood. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  not  hard  to  understand 
why  a  man  who  has  a  cold  is  so  much  more  liable  to 
take  other  diseases  to  which  he  is  exposed.  He  is  in 
a  weakened  condition,  and  already  microbes  instead  of 
white  corpuscles  have  the  upper  hand. 

But  suppose  a  cold  is  coming  on,  what  does  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  the  skin  direct  us  to  do  about  it  ? 

Draw  blood  away  from  the  region  of  the  cold  as 
promptly  as  possible.  Do  it  in  several  ways:  take 
vigorous  exercise  until  every  sweat  gland  is  active ; 
take  a  hot  bath;  soak  the  feet  in  hot  water;  drink 
hot  lemonade ;  go  to  bed ;  sleep  warm ;  perspire  freely. 
By  keeping  warm  in  bed  the  blood  goes  to  the  surface 
of  the  body,  and  delicate  internal  membranes  are  re- 
lieved of  superfluous  blood.  White  corpuscles  are  also 
stirred  up,  and  restoration  begins.  Stay  in  bed  until  the 
feeling  of  cold  is  over.  One  night  may  suffice.  When 
you  leave  the  bed  be  specially  careful  to  avoid  every 
chance  draft,  for  a  draft  just  now  will  undo  the  good 
results  of  the  heat  treatment.  Take  a  warm  bath  at 
once,  then  a  quick  wash  with  cool  water.  This  will 
stimulate  the  nerves  of  your  skin  without  chilling  the 
blood  itself,  and  keep  you  from  taking  cold  afterwards. 


PROTECTED  BY  THE  SKIN  225 

If  going  to  bed  is  out  of  the  question,  dress  more 
warmly  than  usual,  keep  out  of  drafts,  observe  every  law 
of  general  health,  and  determine  to  be  strictly  careful 
not  to  expose  yourself  to  colds  in  the  future. 

Sitting  in  drafts  or  with  damp  feet,  or  with  clothes 
damp  from  perspiration  or  from  rain,  is  dangerous  be- 
cause in  these  ways  the  body  may  be  chilled.  A  quick, 
cold,  two-minute  bath  with  a  hard  rub  afterwards  acts 
as  a  tonic  and  not  as  a  chill  to  the  body. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL 

Let  a  man  live  in  central  Africa  or  let  him  travel 
to  the  coldest  land;  let  him  stay  in  the  burning  heat 
of  his  city  home  or  wander  in  the  cool  shadows  of 
the  country;  let  him  be  in  bed  or  in  the  harvest  field, 
in  the  countinghouse  or  in  the  mine;  wherever  he  is, 
he  will  find  that  if  he  is  well  the  thermometer  under 
his  tongue  always  indicates  about  ninety-eight  degrees 
of  temperature. 

In  each  place  also,  even  if  he  is  not  well,  the  heat  of 
his  body  will  change  but  little.  We  say  that  a  man  has 
a  slight  fever  if  his  temperature  is  100°  F.  If  it  reaches 
102°  we  grow  somewhat  troubled;  if  it  rises  to  103°  and 
then  to  104°,  we  are  truly  anxious ;  for  no  man  is  expected 
to  live  after  his  temperature  has  reached  a  higher  point 
than  107°. 

It  is  well  for  us  that  the  body  has  this  power  to  keep 
the  blood  warm  independent  of  outside  conditions;  for 
if  it  were  otherwise,  —  if  we  were  as  cold-blooded  as  is 
the  frog,  we  should  be  as  useless  in  cold  weather  and 
in  cold  places  as  he  is.  We  should  have  to  hibernate 

in  winter  as  he  does. 

226 


WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL  227 

Birds,  as  well  as  all  animals  that  begin  life  by  taking 
milk  from  their  parents — mammals  they  are  called — are 
warm-blooded.  Each  has  for  itself  this  wonderful  power 
of  meeting  the  changes  of  the  weather  with  a  constant 
temperature  of  its  own.  As  a  result,  such  animals  are 
generally  warmer  than  the  surrounding  air,  and  are  called 
warm-blooded  for  this  reason. 

Cold-blooded  creatures  usually  feel  cold  to  the  hand 
when  we,  who  are  warm-blooded,  touch  them.  Their 
bodies  have  no  power  to  stay  warm  when  the  air  is 
cold  about  them. 

Although  this  power  is  part  of  our  possession,  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  even  the  heat  of  our  warm  bodies 
can  fail.  Men  do  freeze  to  death.  They  cannot  endure 
a  freeze  and  then  come  out  of  it  again,  as  does  the  cold- 
blooded frog.  People  may  live  in  the  coldest  countries 
and  be  active  and  healthy  there,  but  the  one  condition  is 
that  they  help  the  body  do  its  work  by  preventing  the 
escape  of  more  heat  than  the  same  body  can  promptly 
replace. 

Never  confuse  these  two  facts  : 

1.  The  inside  heat  of  the  body  changes  little  from 
year's  end  to  year's  end.    If  it  changes  many  degrees 
up  or  down,  we  die. 

2.  The  skin  feels  warm  or  cold  as  the  air  about  it 
changes.    Skin  and  nose  and  toes  may  freeze,  but  the 
inside  temperature  remains  practically  unchanged. 


228  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

Put  a  dozen  people  in  a  small  room,  and  the  room 
grows  warmer  because  those  human  beings  give  off 
enough  heat  to  warm  the  air  about  them.  In  a  cold 
country  or  in  a  cold  room  each  body  must  keep  within 
itself  as  much  of  its  own  heat  as  it  can.  Naturally, 
therefore,  we  wear  more  clothes  at  one  time  than  at 
another.  We  are  treasuring  up  our  own  supply  of  heat 
for  our  own  use. 

In  the  same  matter  of  heat  we  may  ask  why  exercise 
helps.  Why  do  boys  say,  "  It 's  so  cold  we  Ve  got  to  run 
to  keep  warm  ?  "  For  the  mere  reason  that  when  muscles 
contract  and  when  blood  moves  fast,  the  heat  of  the  body 
is  decidedly  increased.  Any  one  who  can  get  hold  of  a 
doctor's  thermometer  may  test  this  for  himself.  Put  it 
far  back  under  your  tongue  and  keep  it  there  two  min- 
utes ;  decide  what  your  present  temperature  is,  then  take 
vigorous  exercise  of  one  sort  or  another  for  twenty  min- 
utes and  use  the  thermometer  again.  If  you  did  not 
breathe  through  your  mouth,  you  may  find  that  you 
have  been  able  to  raise  your  temperature  slightly. 

Consider  also  that  while  you  exercised  and  breathed 
hard  you  expelled  quantities  of  warmed  air  from  your 
lungs.  Without  doubt,  then,  taken  altogether,  your  body 
produced  a  large  amount  of  heat  while  it  also  worked. 
Now  try  to  explain  the  source  of  its  power  to  do  these 
two  things.  Watch  yourself  at  the  dinner  table  after  exer- 
cising. You  have  such  an  appetite  as  comes  only  when 


WORK,  HEAT,  AND  FUEL  229 

you  have  been  using  up  your  supplies.  Food  is  to  the 
body  what  fuel  is  to  a  stove,  and  in  a  certain  way  your 
machine  has  been  burning  up  its  fuel  while  you  worked 
and  grew  warm.  Your  appetite  is  nature's  call  for  a  fresh 
supply  of  food. 

Sometimes  active  exercise  leads  the  body  to  call  for 
so  much  fuel  that  the  stored-up  supply,  fat,  is  rapidly 
reduced.  Talk  this  over  with  any  thoughtful  football 
player  and  he  will  tell  you  that  during  the  football  sea- 
son he  loses  much  of  the  fat  which  was  stored  up  by 
the  body  during  the  previous  summer.  The  body  has 
need  of  extra  fuel  when  it  does  unusual  work,  and  it 
then  draws  on  its  reserved  supply. 

A  fat  man  applies  this  power  of  the  body  to  his  own 
case.  He  studies  himself  both  in  the  mirror  and  on  the 
scales,  and  concludes  that  his  body  has  stored  up  too 
much  fuel  in  the  shape  of  fat.  He  knows  that  to  get  rid 
of  it  he  must  compel  his  muscles  to  use  it,  and  at  once 
he  begins  a  course  of  vigorous  exercise  which  gives  hard 
work  to  large  muscles.  They  respond  by  calling  for  fuel, 
and  if  he  is  faithful  day  after  day,  the  mirror  and  the 
scales  will  soon  show  that  he  is  accomplishing  his  pur- 
pose,—  that  he  is  losing  his  fat. 

Perhaps  we  wonder  how  it  happens  that  although  we 
sometimes  exercise  so  hard  as  to  use  up  much  of  our 
fuel,  the  thermometer  shows  a  gain  of  so  little  bodily 
heat.  As  we  learned  in  the  last  chapter,  the  reason 


230  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

rests  with  the  sweat  glands.  They  are  such  a  success- 
ful cooling  device  that  whenever  we  exercise  enough 
to  raise  our  temperature  above  its  normal  point,  they 
promptly  manufacture  their  clear-colored  liquid  and 
send  so  much  of  it  out  upon  the  skin  that  the  internal 
temperature  of  the  body  is  kept  from  rising  too  high 
for  safety. 

The  body  is  thus  seen  to  produce  its  own  heat,  while 
it  also  cools  itself  when  we  overheat  it.  Through  this 
power,  however,  we  may  take  cold  unless  we  know  how 
to  prevent  heat  from  escaping  too  fast  when  the  body 
needs  it.  Three  rules  will  be  useful  in  putting  this  into 
practice : 

1.  Never  sit  long  in  a  room  that  feels  chilly.    A 
long,   slow    chilling  of    the  body   does  even  more 
harm  than  a  draft. 

2.  Never  come  in  heated  from  hard  exercise  and 
cool  off  in  a  chilly  room.    Either  continue  exercise 
in  the  room,  or  wrap  up  thoroughly.    Best  of  all, 
when  this  is  possible,  take  a  quick  cool  bath  and 
change  your  damp  underwear  before  you  sit  down 
for  quiet  work. 

3.  Remember  that  there  is  little  danger  of  harm 
to  health,  however  damp  the  clothing  may  be,  so 
long  as  vigorous  exercise  is  kept  up. 

Whether  our  garments  are  damp  or  dry,  however,  it  is 
always  true  that  we  are  warmed  not  by  the  cold  we  keep 


WORK,   HEAT,  AND  FUEL  231 

out  but  by  the  heat  we  keep  in.1  Flannel  succeeds 
better  than  cotton  in  preventing  the  escape  of  heat, 
because  more  air  is  entangled  in  the  mesh  of  woolen 
than  in  that  of  cotton  goods,  and  air  is  a  poor  con- 
ductor of  heat.  For  this  reason  we  choose  woolen  goods 
for  winter  wear  and  cotton  materials  for  our  summer 
clothing. 

During  a  long  drive  in  the  face  of  a  sharp  wind 
many  a  sensible  man  has  slipped  a  newspaper  under  his 
coat.  He  has  acted  on  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that 
paper  is  a  poor  conductor  of  heat,  and  that  each  separate 
layer  of  newspaper  helps  to  keep  heat  from  escaping 
from  the  air  underneath  it.  In  summer,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  choose  the  thinnest  clothing  and  the  fewest 
possible  layers  of  it.  We  wish  to  make  it  easy  for  the 
heat  to  escape. 

That  which  we  may  do  in  guiding  or  in  preventing 
the  loss  of  bodily  heat  leads  us  to  our  knowledge  of 
another  fact :  We  may  so  train  the  body  that  it  will  im- 
prove in  the  power  to  adjust  itself  to  different  states  of 
heat  and  cold.  In  other  words,  the  body  can  be  educated. 

1  If  the  body  is  not  sufficiently  covered,  heat  radiates  from  it  and  escapes. 
Cool  air  takes  its  place  at  once  and  surrounds  the  body  as  a  layer.  Capillaries 
in  the  skin  now  contract  and  force  the  blood  away  from  the  surface  to  the  inward 
parts  of  the  body.  These  parts  then  become  congested,  while  the  skin  feels  cold, 
because  the  contracted  blood  vessels  can  only  hold  a  small  supply  of  blood.  By 
putting  on  extra  clothing  at  such  times  and  by  rubbing  ourselves  hard,  we  cause 
the  blood  vessels  of  the  skin  to  expand,  more  blood  passes  through  them,  and  we 
are  warm  again. 


232  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

This  may  be  done  by  following  the  rules  already  given 
and  by  attending  to  a  few  other  points: 

1.  Do  not  spend  much  time  in  overheated  rooms, 
that  is,  in   places  heated  above  70°  F.    The  body 
grows    exceedingly  sensitive  to  cold   if  it    is    kept 
constantly  too  warm. 

2.  Do  not   overweight  yourself  with  clothing  in 
a  warm  house,  nor  take  vigorous  exercise  in  heavy 
garments.    In  other  words,  regulate  your  clothes  to 
your  need. 

3.  If  you  are  in  good  health,  take  a  quick  cold 
bath  every  morning.    Nothing  is  better  for  preparing 
the  blood  vessels  for  changes  in  temperature. 

4.  Keep    the    body    clean    by   a    soap-and-water 
bath  at  least  once  a  week. 

He  who  attends  to  the  various  rules  connected  with 
bathing,  eating,  exercise,  and  the  heating  of  the  body 
will  find  at  last  that  he  has  reached  the  happy  condition 
where  sudden  changes  in  temperature  and  unexpected 
drafts  do  not  harm  him  as  they  did  in  former  days. 

The  great  work  of  hygiene  is  to  help  the  body  as  it 
tries  to  help  itself.  And  in  this  direction  one  of  the  vital 
points  is  to  know  how  to  protect  living  tissue  from  disease 
microbes. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

LIVING   TISSUE  THREATENED   BY   MICROBES 

On  the  first  of  September,  1909,  the  board  of  health  of 
the  state  of  Kansas  began  to  enforce  a  new  law : 

The  use  of  the  common  drinking  cup  on  railroad  trains,  in  railroad 
stations,  in  the  public  and  private  schools,  and  in  the  state  educational 
institutions  of  the  state  of  Kansas  is  hereby  prohibited,  from  and  after 
September  i,  1909. 

No  person  or  corporation  in  charge  or  control  of  any  railroad  train 
or  station,  or  public  or  private  school,  or  state  educational  institution 
shall  furnish  any  drinking  cup  for  public  use,  and  no  such  person  or 
corporation  shall  permit  on  said  railroad  train,  station,  or  at  said  public 
or  private  school,  or  state  educational  institution  the  common  use  of  the 
drinking  cup. 

When  this  law  went  into  effect,  and  when  thirsty 
people  arrived  at  the  station  and  found  that  they  must 
have  their  own  drinking  cups,  some  of  them  were  dis- 
pleased. They  thought  the  board  of  health  was  growing 
altogether  too  particular.  But  read  the  following  facts 
and  judge  the  case  for  yourself.  I  quote  the  account 
from  a  report  that  was  printed  in  February,  1909: 

Professor  Davidson  of  Lafayette  College  asked  ten  boys  to  apply  the 
upper  lip  to  pieces  of  flat,  clean  glass  in  the  same  way  as  they  would 

233 


234  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

touch  a  cup  in  drinking.  These  glass  slips  were  then  given  a  thorough 
microscopic  examination,  and  they  showed  an  average  of  about  one  hun- 
dred human  cells,  or  bits  of  skin,  and  seventy-five  thousand  bacteria1  to 
each  slip.  This  from  one  application  of  the  lip. 

A  cup  which  had  been  used  in  a  high  school  for  several  months  with- 
out being  washed  was  lined  inside  with  a  brownish  deposit.  Under  the 
microscope  this  proved  to  be  composed  of  particles  of  mud,  thousands 
of  bits  of  dead  skin,  and  millions  of  bacteria,  among  which  were  scores 
of  germs  corresponding  in  all  details  to  those  of  tuberculosis.  Some  of 
this  sediment  was  injected  under  the  skin  of  a  healthy  guinea  pig,  and 
in  forty  hours  the  animal  died.  A  post-mortem  examination  revealed 
the  fact  that  death  was  due  to  the  presence  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
pneumonia  germs  to  cause  blood  poisoning. 

A  second  guinea  pig  inoculated  with  the  cup  sediment  developed 
tuberculosis.  Careful  inquiry  proved  that  several  pupils  in  the  school 
from  which  the  cup  was  taken  were  then  sufferers  from  this  dread  disease. 

Remember  these  facts  when  you  next  take  up  the 
schoolhouse  drinking  cup  or  any  cup  used  by  other 
people.  Think  of  the  microbes  which  may  be  on  it 
from  other  lips  than  yours  and  decide  whether  or  not 
you  care  to  run  the  risk  of  putting  an  invisible  foe  into 
the  citadel  of  your  body.  Teachers  the  world  over  are 
beginning  to  take  dangers  of  this  sort  into  account. 
Instead  of  the  cup,  therefore,  children  are  sometimes 
expected  to  drink  from  a  slender  stream  of  water  as  it 
comes  from  the  pipe.  Lips  thus  touch  nothing  but  water, 
and  no  harm  is  done  either  to  the  one  who  drinks  or  to 
those  who  come  after  him. 

1  Different  kinds  of  microbes. 


LIVING  TISSUE  THREATENED  BY  MICROBES      235 

But  a  drinking  cup  is  not  the  only  schoolhouse  danger 
from  microbes.  Recall  the  last  half  of  the  fourteenth 
chapter  of  Good  Health.  Think  of  that  eye  epidemic  in 
Germany  which  began  in  one  schoolroom,  then  spread 
from  room  to  room,  from  schoolhouse  to  schoolhouse, 
until  four  thousand  children  were  suffering  from  it. 
Think  of  that  more  serious  eye  disease  —  trachoma,  as  it 
is  called  —  which  travels  so  fast  after  it  is  once  started, 
and  which  so  often  threatens  blindness  to  the  one  who 
has  it.  The  government  of  the  United  States  does  all 
it  can  to  keep  out  of  the  country  all  those  who  have  it 
when  they  come  from  foreign  lands.  Remember  that  for 
pink  eye,  for  trachoma,  or  for  any  other  contagious  dis- 
ease there  is  but  one  road  by  which  the  microbes  travel. 
They  go  by  the  road  of  touch.  No  healthy  eyes  will  take 
the  disease  unless  they  are  touched  by  something  which 
has  already  touched  diseased  eyes. 

My  next-door  neighbor  seems  to  know  this  already. 
He  came  from  school  the  other  day  and  said,  "  Pink  eye 
has  started  in  school,  but  I  'm  not  going  to  catch  it." 
"  How  will  you  be  sure  to  escape  ?  "  I  asked.  "  That 's 
simple  enough,"  he  answered ;  "  I  '11  keep  my  hands  away 
from  my  eyes ;  I  '11  never  touch  them  with  anything 
except  my  own  clean  towel  at  home.  I  '11  have  to  do 
this  because  at  school  my  hands  have  to  touch  what 
other  boys  have  touched,  and  I  never  know  what  microbes 
may  be  on  them."  I  commended  my  neighbor  and  was 


236  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

glad  to  see  that  he  did  save  himself  from  pink  eye, 
although  his  best  friends  had  it.  The  probability  is  that 
they  not  only  touched  their  eyes  with  their  hands  but 
also  used  the  common  school  towel.  This  should  be  ban- 
ished from  every  schoolhouse.  It  provides  too  fine  a 
road  for  such  microbes  as  travel  by  touch. 

And  what  about  pencils  both  in  the  schoolroom  and 
out  of  it  ?  I  once  saw  a  healthy-looking  boy  borrow  a 
pencil  from  his  sickly-looking  neighbor  and  touch  it  to 
his  lips  at  once.  I  was  frightened.  Later  I  asked  the  boy 
if  he  thought  it  wise  to  pass  microbes  from  mouth  to 
mouth  by  means  of  the  point  of  a  pencil,  and  he  con- 
fessed he  had  never  given  the  matter  a  moment's  thought. 
But  he  was  bright  enough  to  see  that  if  a  drinking  cup 
can  carry  microbes,  the  point  of  a  pencil  may  carry  even 
more,  for  it  goes  directly  from  the  lips  of  the  person  who 
has  moistened  it  to  those  of  the  next  heedless  person 
who  touches  his  tongue  to  it  and  leaves  his  microbes 
on  it.  The  same  is  true  for  those  who  moisten  a  finger 
to  turn  the  pages  of  the  book  they  are  reading ;  the  habit 
is  unwholesome  as  well  as  unattractive. 

So  much,  then,  for  the  direct  ways  by  which  microbes 
may  travel  from  person  to  person ;  but  what  about  the  in- 
direct road  ?  Think  of  our  numberless  small,  unwelcome 
neighbors,  the  flies  and  the  mosquitoes.  Why  do  intel- 
ligent people  object  to  the  presence  of  flies  in  kitchen, 
pantry,  and  dining  room  ?  Why  do  we  carry  on  an 


LIVING  TISSUE  THREATENED  BY  MICROBES      237 

endless  fight  against  them  ?  For  the  simple  reason  that 
flies  never  either  wash  or  wipe  their  feet.  Yet  think  for  a 
moment  where  those  tiny  feet  travel.  Where  dead  things 
lie,  where  filth  is  worst,  where  disease  has  been,  there  do 
we  find  flies  in  greatest  numbers.  And  it  is  always  in 
just  such  places  that  they  lay  their  eggs  and  multiply. 

Study  the  subject  for  yourself.  Look  at  the  open 
garbage  pail  in  the  summer,  or  at  a  pile  of  decaying 
waste  anywhere.  Notice  the  multitudes  of  flies  there, 
then  notice  where  flies  stand  thickest  in  your  home. 
From  the  barnyard  where  they  multiply  fastest  in  horse 
manure,  or  from  a  sewage  farm  with  feet  covered  with 
typhoid  microbes,  they  may  fly  to  your  dining  table  and 
leave  living  microbes  on  bread,  beef,  cake,  candy,  — 
on  anything  you  eat.  For  in  the  line  of  food  flies  enjoy 
not  our  waste  alone  but  also  whatever  we  have  prepared 
with  greatest  care  as  food  for  ourselves.  They  stand  on 
this  dainty  food  of  ours  with  their  soiled  feet,  and  we 
swallow  the  food  plus  the  microbes  which  mark  their 
footsteps.  This  danger  from  the  fly  is  very  real. 

Of  every  hundred  soldiers  who  died  in  the  Spanish- 
American  War  twenty  were  killed  by  bullets,  eighty  by 
microbes.  And  over  and  over  again  the  doctors  blamed 
the  feet  of  the  flies  for  having  put  typhoid  microbes  on 
the  food  the  soldiers  ate. 

But  aside  from  their  feet  there  is  mischief  done  by 
flies  through  the  refuse  which  they  are  willing  to  eat. 


238  THE   BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

Dr.  Lord,  a  scientist,  allowed  flies  to  eat  sputum  from  a 
man  who  had  tuberculosis.  Those  flies  then  deposited 
their  flyspecks,  and  fifteen  days  later  Dr.  Lord  examined 
the  specks  and  found  living  tubercle  bacilli  in  them. 
Those  microbes  of  tuberculosis  had  been  taken  into  the 
mouth  of  the  fly,  had  gone  safely  through  its  body,  were 
alive  when  they  left  the  body  as  flyspecks,  and  after 

fifteen  days  they  were  as  vigorous 
as  ever  and  ready  to  threaten  the 
/  living  tissue  of  human  beings. 
Think  of  the  flyspecks  which  are 
left  on  our  food  when  flies  stand 
upon  it. 

Turn  also  to  mosquitoes.  In  1793 
within  the  space  of  six  and  a  half 
STEGOMYIA  MOSQUITO  THAT  weeks  one  tenth  of  the  population 

CARRIES  YELLOW  FEVER          r  T»I  M     i    i    i  •       v     i      c        n          r 

of  Philadelphia  died  of  yellow  fever. 

Naturally,  of  course,  the  city  was  in  a  panic.  No  one 
knew  what  started  the  fever  nor  how  it  traveled  from 
one  person  to  another.  But,  thanks  to  science  once 
again,  we  now  know  that  if  every  mosquito  of  a  certain 
kind  were  banished  from  the  earth  to-day,  no  human 
being  would  ever  again  be  killed  by  yellow  fever.  It  has 
been  proved  that  stegomyia  mosquitoes  are  the  only 
yellow  fever  agents  in  the  world.  By  their  sting,  pro- 
vided they  themselves  have  already  stung  a  yellow  fever 
patient,  they  pass  the  disease  along.  Malaria  is  another 


LIVING  TISSUE  THREATENED  BY  MICROBES      239 

disease  which  is  carried  only  by  mosquitoes.  A  person 
who  was  never  stung  by  the  anopheles  mosquito  would 
never  have  malaria. 

It  is  these  facts,  then,  that  explain  the  modern  fight 
against  flies  and  mosquitoes.  We  have  no  objection  to 
the  little  creatures  themselves,  but  we  greatly  object  to 
the  diseases  which  they  may 
inflict  upon  us.  We  therefore 
do  what  we  can  to  reduce 
their  numbers.  A  careful 
housewife  keeps  the  garbage 
pail  closely  covered,  that 
flies  may  not  enter  and  lay 
their  eggs  there.  She  has  it 
emptied  often  and  scalded,  MOSQUITOES 

that   Such   eggS  as   may  have    Above  is  anopheles  that  carries  malaria. 

Below  is  culex  the  common,  harmless 

been  laid  on  the  food  before  mosquito.  We  know  which  is  which  by 

it  Went   into  the   pail   may  be      the  P°sitioneach  takes  when  resting 

killed  and  never  allowed  to  hatch.  She  also  keeps  her 
food  away  from  the  feet  of  flies. 

A  careful  city  takes  the  same  fly  facts  into  account. 
It  allows  no  piles  of  rubbish  to  stand  about;  it  allows 
no  dead  animals  to  stay  unburied ;  it  insists  on  having 
clean  streets  and  a  city  without  places  where  flies  may 
lay  their  eggs.  All  this  explains  the  passion  for  clean 
things  which  now  moves  all  civilized  people.  We  wish 
to  breathe  clean  air  in  clean  streets ;  we  wish  to  eat 


240  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

clean  food  where  no  disease  microbes  may  be  found ; 
we  wish  to  be  rid  of  city  waste  promptly  because  we 
are  not  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  increasing  danger  for 
ourselves  from  microbes  which  might  threaten  us. 

As  for  exterminating  mosquitoes,  this  is  done  by  filling 
with  earth  all  marshy  places  (for  it  is  there  that  mosqui- 
toes lay  their  eggs)  and  by  pouring  kerosene  oil  over 
open  cisterns  and  ponds  too  large  to  be  filled.  Mosquito 
eggs  and  wigglers  are  killed  when  kerosene  covers  the 
surface  of  the  water  in  which  they  live.1 

In  every  city  the  intelligence  or  the  ignorance  of  the 
citizens  decides  what  their  own  life  and  death  prospects 
shall  be. 

1  See  Town  and  City  for  an  account  of  the  war  against  mosquitoes  in  New 
Orleans. 


CHAPTER    XXXII 

SPREAD    OF    EPIDEMICS 

A  certain  boy  in  New  York  City  had  measles.  He 
was  quite  ill,  went  to  bed,  called  the  doctor,  stayed  at 
home  for  some  time,  then  was  well  again  and  went  back 
to  school.  After  that  he  became  very  popular.  Why  ? 
Because,  as  Mr.  Riis  says,  "He  could  pull  the  skin  off 
with  his  fingers  as  one  would  skin  a  cat."  And  he  gave 
the  largest  rolls  to  his  dearest  friends.  He  did  not  know 
and  his  friends  did  not  know  that  microbes  of  measles 
are  thick  in  each  smallest  fragment  of  skin  that  comes 
from  any  one  who  has  had  the  measles.  So  the  skin 
went  from  the  boy  to  his  friends.  They  took  it  home 
with  them  and  divided  it  among  their  other  friends. 

Then  came  the  climax  of  that  bit  of  ignorance.  A 
great  epidemic  of  measles  broke  out  wherever  the  skin 
had  been  distributed.  Many  were  ill ;  some  died ;  all 
suffered.  If  those  boys,  their  parents,  and  their  friends 
had  known  the  facts  about  measles,  they  would  have 
used  their  brains  and  saved  their  bodies  from  a  very 
preventable  epidemic. 

The  truth  is,  that  when  we  say  "  There  is  an  epidemic 
in  this  place  or  that,"  we  simply  mean  that  disease 


241 


242  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

microbes  of  one  sort  or  another  are  passing  rapidly 
from  person  to  person,  and  that  many  have  already 
been  overcome  by  them.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the 
life  and  death  record  of  every  village  and  city  in  the 
land  must  depend  largely  on  what  young  people  as  well 
as  old  people  know  about  disease  microbes,  and  on  what 
school  children  as  well  as  doctors  are  willing  to  do  to 
keep  the  microbes  from  spreading. 

But  there  is  another  contagious  disease  which  is  far 
worse  than  measles.  In  the  year  1854  this  disease  broke 
out  on  Ponape,  one  of  the  Micronesian  islands.  It  came 
from  the  garments  of  a  sailor  who  had  died  there  of 
smallpox.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Ponape  had  a  popu- 
lation of  ten  thousand ;  but  six  months  later  half  those 
ignorant  islanders  were  dead  and  buried.  The  microbe 
of  smallpox  had  slain  them  before  they  had  time  to  learn 
how  to  protect  themselves  from  this  preventable  disease.1 

In  former  times  people  dreaded  smallpox  and  fled 
from  it.  They  knew  it  was  contagious  and  realized  what 
its  results  were ;  but  they  tried  in  vain  to  escape  it. 
Though  they  fled  they  were  overtaken  by  it ;  they  suf- 
fered from  it  and  carried  the  marks  of  it  on  their  faces 
until  they  died.  They  were  also  killed  by  it  by  the  hun- 
dred thousand  every  year.  According  to  a  careful  calcu- 
lation fifty  million  Europeans  died  of  smallpox  between 
the  years  1 700  and  1 800. 

1  A  full  account  of  this  is  given  in  Town  and  City. 


SPREAD  OF  EPIDEMICS 


243 


Then  at  last  came  relief;  for  in  1796  an  Englishman, 
Dr.  Jenner,  learned  how  to  save  men  by  vaccination. 
Since  that  time  smallpox  has  slipped  into  the  back- 
ground of  the  deadly  diseases  of  the  world.  The  explana- 
tion is  that  to-day  in  every  civilized  country  vaccination 
has  been  adopted  as  a  preventive.  It  is  true  that  now- 
adays people  feel  so  safe  that  they  often  grow  careless. 
Even  the  mothers  of  the  children  sometimes  forget  to 
have  their  sons  and  daughters  vaccinated.  In  such  cases, 
however,  the  board  of  health  of  the  city  or  town  often 
steps  in  and  gives  commands.  This  was  done  by  New 
York  City  in  1901.  Without  much  warning  smallpox 
had  appeared  in  the  place.  People  here  and  there  who 
had  not  been  vaccinated  were  down  with  the  fever  and 
were  dying.  Two  hundred  special  inspectors  were  ap- 
pointed at  once,  and  within  six  months  eight  hundred 
and  ten  thousand  citizens,  young  and  old,  had  been  vac- 
cinated and  the  city  was  saved  from  what  would  have 
been  an  epidemic  more  frightful  than  that  which  swept 
over  Ponape.  For  in  a  city  human  beings  are  crowded 
close  together  and  microbes  have  a  chance  to  spread  fast. 

While  smallpox  shows  itself  on  the  outside  of  the 
body,  diphtheria  takes  its  start  within  the  throat.  And 
here,  also,  we  have  a  swift-moving  disease  which  seems  to 
fly  from  house  to  house  through  the  power  of  an  unseen 
hand.  We  ourselves  know  that  in  this  case,  too,  th€  in- 
visible power  is  a  microbe  which  is  able  to  kill  its  victim. 


244  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

As  happens  also  in  any  attack  of  diphtheria,  life  de- 
pends on  the  speed  with  which  prevention  can  overtake 
the  microbe  as  it  multiplies.  A  child  has  a  sore  throat, 
then  a  fever.  The  doctor  is  called,  and  if  he  finds  all  the 
signs  of  the  dread  disease,  he  knows  that  his  one  hope  is 
to  kill  the  microbes  before  they  can  kill  the  child.  With- 
out a  moment's  delay,  therefore,  he  uses  the  one  great 
cure  for  diphtheria  —  antitoxin.  He  not  only  puts  this 
into  the  body  of  the  child  who  is  ill,  but  also  gives  it 
to  each  person  who  has  been  anywhere  near  the  child. 
Indeed,  the  disease  itself  passes  so  swiftly  from  one  to 
another  that  the  only  safety  is  to  use  antitoxin  on  all 
alike.  It  not  only  helps  cure  the  one  who  has  the  disease, 
but  also  protects  those  who  have  been  exposed  to  it.  In 
previous  times  about  forty  of  every  hundred  who  had 
diphtheria  died  of  it.  Now  it  kills  not  more  than  eight  in 
each  hundred.  The  difference  in  the  death  rate  is  ex- 
plained by  the  power  of  antitoxin  to  save  those  who 
have  been  attacked  by  the  microbe. 

Last  week  the  newspapers  reported  the  sad  case  of 
three  persons  who  had  been  bitten  by  a  mad  dog  in  a 
country  town.  The  dog  was  owned  by  the  president 
of  a  college  in  that  town,  and  no  one  suspected  danger 
until  the  dog  had  bitten  one  boy  and  two  men.  He  was 
then  caught  and  mercifully  killed.  And  what  of  the  men 
and  the  boy?  The  doctors  in  the  place  knew  that  there 
was  hope  of  life  for  them  if  they  could  be  treated  with 


SPREAD  OF  EPIDEMICS  245 

an  antitoxin  which  is  prepared  for  just  such  cases.  It 
destroys  the  power  of  hydrophobia  microbes  after  they 
have  been  put  into  the  body  by  the  teeth  of  a  mad  dog. 
All  three  of  the  victims  were  therefore  hurried  to 
Chicago.  There  they  were  treated  at  a  special  hospital 
for  such  cases.  One  man  had  been  a  little  slow  in  arriv- 
ing and  he  alone  suffered  from  the  disease.  The  other 
man  and  the  boy  were  rescued  from  it  by  the  antitoxin 
which  was  given  in  time  to  save  them  from  the  microbes 
of  hydrophobia.  Perhaps  no  suffering  is  more  dreadful 
and  no  death  much  sadder  than  that  which  comes  through 
hydrophobia.  In  these  days,  however,  even  this  disease 
is  preventable.  To  save  people  from  it,  large  cities  in  all 
parts  of  the  civilized  world  prepare  antitoxin  and  supply 
it  to  the  doctors  when  needed. 

In  order  to  bring  together  the  teachings  of  the  last 
two  chapters,  they  might  be  grouped  as  follows: 

Avoid  the  public  drinking  cup  and  the  public  towel. 
Do  not  rub  your  eyes  with  your  fingers. 
Do  not  touch  your  pencil  to  your  lips. 
Do  not  moisten  fingers  at  the  lips  to  turn  a  page. 
Do  not  tolerate  either  flies  or  mosquitoes  in  your  home.    Do  all  you 
can  to  prevent  them  from  multiplying  in  your  town. 
Adopt  cleanliness  of  the  home  as  your  motto  for  life. 
Vaccination  prevents  smallpox. 
Antitoxin  saves  from  diphtheria. 
Antitoxin  saves  from  hydrophobia. 
Quarantine  prevents  the  spread  of  measles  and  scarlet  fever. 


246  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

Thus  we  learn  how  certain  diseases  may  be  prevented. 
But,  in  addition  to  all  else,  let  us  never  forget  that  the 
health  of  the  body  demands  two  great  things  of  us : 

1.  That   we    destroy  disease   microbes    (tubercle 
bacilli,  typhoid  microbes,  etc.),  before  they  have  any 
chance  to  attack  the  body. 

2.  That  we  keep  the  defenses  of  the  body  in  such 
vigorous   condition    that   even    if  disease    microbes 
enter,   they  will   not  conquer  us   but   will   be  con- 
quered by  us. 

In  other  words,  our  war  against  the  microbe  means 
that  we  do  two  things,  and  that  we  do  them  both  at  the 
same  time : 

1.  Fortify  the  body. 

2.  Exterminate  the  foe. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

STUDENTS,  RAILROAD  MEN,  AND  ALCOHOL 

Several  years  ago  Professor  Kraepelin  of  Heidelberg 
University,  Germany,  did  some  experimenting  in  connec- 
tion with  the  students  of  the  place.  He  was  just  the  one 
to  carry  on  the  experiments  because  he  had  already  made 
a  special  study  of  the  nervous  system,  and  because  in  all 
parts  of  the  world  scientific  men  recognize  the  authority 
of  his  name.  He  himself  says  that  he  really  wished  to  save 
a  little  of  the  reputation  of  wine  and  beer,  for  he  saw 
that  science  was  crowding  pretty  hard  against  every 
drink  containing  alcohol. 

In  experimenting  with  his  students  Professor  Kraepe- 
lin always  gave  small  doses.  He  knew,  as  we  do,  that 
those  who  use  alcohol  frequently  in  large  doses  ruin  their 
lives  hopelessly.  Proofs  of  this  are  on  every  side,  in  every 
land.  There  are,  however,  thousands  of  honest  people  who 
heartily  believe  that  alcohol  taken  in  small  doses  is  a  help 
to  them  on  all  sorts  of  occasions.  It  was  in  this  direction, 
therefore,  that  Professor  Kraepelin  experimented. 

Various  university  students  were  eager  to  know  facts, 
willing  to  be  tested,  and  quite  ready  to  drink  or  not  to 
drink,  according  as  the  progress  of  the  investigation 

247 


248  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

required.  One  test  had  to  do  with  a  man's  quickness  in 
adding  up  columns  of  figures  for  half  an  hour  a  day  dur- 
ing six  days.  Those  who  were  being  tested  without  alcohol 
added  their  figures  as  rapidly  and  correctly  as  they  could. 
Then  the  alcohol  period  began,  and  now  for  thirteen 
days  these  same  students  used  the  alcohol  and  continued 
to  spend  the  half  hour  a  day  at  their  addition  tables. 
The  work  went  more  and  more  slowly  during  this  alco- 
hol period  until  the  nineteenth  day.  Alcohol  was  then 
dropped.  The  men  continued  to  add,  and  there  was 
immediate  and  marked  improvement  in  the  work  they 
did.  This  continued  until  the  twenty-sixth  day,  when 
they  returned  to  alcohol,  and  once  again  there  was 
change  for  the  worse. 

Thus  the  seesaw  between  alcohol  and  no  alcohol  went 
on  until  no  doubt  remained.  It  was  clear  to  all  that  the 
men  always  did  poorer  work  during  the  alcohol  period 
and  better  work  when  they  had  no  alcohol. 

There  was  also  the  test  with  the  typesetters  in  Heidel- 
berg. Dr.  Aschaffenburg  carried  on  this  set  of  experi- 
ments. Four  skilled  men  were  chosen.  Three  were  in 
the  habit  of  using  alcohol  in  small  amounts,  the  fourth 
acknowledged  that  he  took  too  much  once  in  a  while,  but 
all  were  ready  to  go  without  it  now  or  to  take  it,  as  the 
tests  demanded.  All  four  men  were  indeed  anxious  to 
know  whether  they  themselves  could  use  their  fingers 
more  swiftly  and  accurately  with  or  without  the  alcohol. 


STUDENTS,  RAILROAD  MEN,  AND  ALCOHOL      249 

The  amount  which  Dr.  Aschaffenburg  gave  them  on 
the  days  when  they  took  alcohol  was  one  ounce  and  a 
quarter;  that  is,  the  wine  which  they  drank  had  about 
two  and  a  half  tablespoonfuls  of  alcohol  in  it. 

The  men  drank  it  fifteen  minutes  before  they  began 
their  typesetting.  For  fifteen  minutes  each  day  they 
worked  hard  and  fast.  Each  did  what  he  could  to  set 
up  as  much  type  as  possible ;  and  yet,  as  shown  in  the 
illustration  on  the  next  page,  in  every  case  but  one 
alcohol  hindered  and  did  not  help  them. 

But  —  and  here  we  meet  a  curious  fact  —  in  every  case 
the  men  themselves  thought  they  were  doing  better  and 
swifter  work  when  they  used  alcohol  than  when  they  did 
not  use  it.  It  appears,  also,  that  this  is  the  usual  belief  of 
those  who  use  alcohol.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  many 
careful  experiments  which  have  been  made  prove  that 
the  opposite  is  true. 

Sweden  has  turned  special  attention  to  her  soldiers. 
She  wishes  to  know  whether  a  glass  of  wine  or  beer 
taken  before  the  shooting  begins  will  strengthen  or 
weaken  a  soldier  who  tries  to  hit  the  enemy. 

Lieutenant  Rengt  Boy  carried'  on  the  experiments. 
The  soldiers  selected  were  picked  men,  all  fine  marks- 
men. Their  targets  were  two  hundred  yards  away,  and 
guns  and  rifles  were  used.  On  different  days  the  men, 
in  groups  of  six,  were  tested  with  alcohol  and  with- 
out it.  The  amount  of  alcohol  given  was  about  three 


NO.  OF    LETTERS 
SET  UP 


3000 


2900 


•H  NON-ALCOHOL  DAY        ES3  ALCOHOL  DAY 

THE  RECORDS  OF  FOUR  MEN 

Each  group  of  four  columns  shows  the  work  of  the  same  man  for 

four  successive  days.    Black  columns  show  how  many  letters  they  set 

up  on  non-alcohol  days.   Dotted  columns  show  how  many  letters  they 

set  up  on  alcohol  days 


STUDENTS,  RAILROAD  MEN,  AND  ALCOHOL      251 

tablespoonfuls.  This  was  taken  in  the  shape  of  wine  or 
beer,  sometimes  the  night  before,  sometimes  within  an 
hour  of  the  target  practice ;  and  the  result  of  it  all  was 
the  discovery  that  in  every  instance  each  man  in  each 
group  did  his  quickest  firing  and  his  best  hitting  when 
he  had  had  no  alcohol  whatever  for  two  or  three  days 
beforehand,  and  that  he  did  his  poorest  work  when  he 
had  used  alcohol  at  any  time  within  twenty-four  hours. 
As  staff  surgeon  Mernetsch  reports: 

When  under  alcohol  the  result  was  thirty  per  cent  less  hits  in  quick 
fire ;  and  the  men  always  thought  they  were  shooting  faster,  whilst 
actually  they  shot  much  more  slowly.  When  slow  aiming  was  allowed 
the  difference  even  went  to  fifty  per  cent. 

With  these  facts  in  mind  we  are  not  surprised  at  the 
present  great  anti-alcohol  movement  among  railroad  com- 
panies. By  their  own  experience  they  know  that  alcohol 
reduces  a  man's  chance  to  do  his  best  and  quickest  work 
either  with  muscles  or  brain.  Consequently,  all  over  the 
country  railroad  companies  have  become  what  might  be 
called  huge  temperance  societies.  They  are  determined 
to  protect  their  men  from  alcohol,  for  the  sake  of  protect- 
ing passengers  from  disaster,  cars  from  being  wrecked, 
and  money  from  being  wasted. 

In  1908  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company 
issued  the  following  notice: 

Officers  and  employees  will  take  notice  that  there  will  not  be  em- 
ployed, nor  permitted  to  remain  in  service  in  the  capacity  of  trainmaster, 


252  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

dispatcher,  operator,  engineer,  fireman  or  trainman,  yardman,  block  or 
other  signalman,  watchman,  or  in  other  positions  where  in  any  way  charged 
with  the  direction  or  operation  of  trains,  persons  who  use  intoxicants,  either 
while  on  duty  or  off  duty.  Under  no  circumstances  will  exceptions  be  made. 

A  number  of  railroads  forbid  their  men  to  use  alcohol 
while  on  duty  and  say  that  "  their  habitual  use,  or  the 
frequenting  of  places  where  they  are  sold,  is  sufficient 
cause  for  dismissal." 

Indeed,  this  movement  against  alcohol  has  gone  so  far 
that  the  Anti-saloon  League  Year  Book  for  1909  quotes 
the  case  of  \vhat  is  called  "  the  largest  temperance  move- 
ment any  one  business  concern  has  ever  known."  This 
was  in  connection  with  the  Northwestern  Railroad,  when 
twenty-five  thousand  railroad  employees  signed  a  monster 
temperance  pledge.  It  seems  that  not  long  before  the 
railroad  had  been  reducing  its  working  force  for  the 
winter.  When  this  was  done  the  employees  noticed  that 
every  one  who  was  cut  off  was  a  drinking  man,  and  that 
all  those  who  never  drank  alcohol  in  any  shape  were 
retained.  The  railroad  officers  even  went  so  far  as  to  de- 
clare that  in  future  their  plan  would  be  never  to  turn  off 
a  man  who  was  a  total  abstainer.  This,  then,  was  what 
stirred  the  men  to  action.  They  all  wished  to  keep  on 
earning  money,  they  wished  to  run  no  risk  of  being 
dismissed  from  work  because  of  alcohol,  and  for  this 
reason  it  was  that  twenty-five  thousand  of  them  signed 
the  temperance  pledge. 


STUDENTS,  RAILROAD  MEN,  AND  ALCOHOL      253 

Evidently,  both  for  the  men  and  for  the  railroad  com- 
pany, going  without  alcohol  was  decided  on  simply  as 
a  good,  common-sense,  business  investment.  In  other 
words,  sensible  men  saw  that  alcohol  damaged  their 
nervous  systems  and  made  them  less  efficient.  They 
therefore  used  their  brains,  saw  what  should  be  done, 
and  did  it.  The  nervous  system  and  the  brain  are,  in 
point  of  fact,  the  center  of  all  bodily  activity,  all 
thought,  and  all  sensation. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

NERVES  THAT  UNITE  MUSCLE  AND  BRAIN 

If  a  cat  felt  no  unpleasant  sensation  when  he  needed 
food,  he  would  never  bestir  himself  from  a  comfortable 
nap  for  the  sake  of  eating.  If  a  mouse  felt  no  unpleasant 
sensation  when  the  claws  of  a  hungry  cat  were  hooked 
into  his  skin  to  seize  him,  he  might  allow  himself  to  be 
caught  and  eaten  without  a  struggle.  If  human  beings 
felt  no  discomfort  in  the  coldest  weather,  they  might 
carelessly  let  themselves  be  frozen  to  death. 

So  it  is  on  every  side.  All  along  the  way  we  go,  our 
sensations  are  our  best  protectors.  Indeed,  during  each 
day  of  our  lives  our  animal  kindred  and  we  ourselves 
travel  through  life  over  a  road  that  is  guarded  on  either 
side  by  what  might  seem  to  be  a  hedge  of  nerve  warn- 
ings called  sensations.  The  sensations  themselves  are  of 
many  kinds  —  hunger  and  thirst,  cold  and  heat,  head- 
ache, toothache,  stomach  ache  —  ills  of  a  thousand  dif- 
ferent sorts.  But  through  each  separate  one  we  learn  at 
last  that  by  giving  heed  to  our  sensations  —  to  those  that 
are  disagreeable  as  well  as  to  those  that  are  agreeable  — 
we  do  much  to  preserve  our  health  and  to  make  the  path- 
way of  life  delightful. 

254 


NERVES  THAT  UNITE  MUSCLE  AND  BRAIN       255 

Before  the  microscope  was  invented  even  the  wisest 
men  were  obliged  to  do  much  of  their  scientific  work 
by  guessing.  They  first  imagined  that  each  nerve  was  a 
tube  filled  with  something  exceedingly  fine  and  delicate, 
called  animal  spirits.  The  stuff,  they  said,  was  neither 
gas  nor  air,  but  something  far  more  subtle  than  either. 
They  thought  that  by  means  of  this  substance  every 
nervous  system  did  its  feeling,  moving,  and  thinking. 

Later,  other  men  supposed  that  the  contents  of  the 
nerve  tubes  was  something  heavier  than  gas,  and  they 
called  it  nerve  juice. 

In  recent  times,  however,  the  microscope  has  done  as 
much  for  nerves  as  for  microbes.  It  has  destroyed  num- 
berless old-fashioned  theories,  and  has  shown  that  nerves 
are  not  tubes  at  all,  but  that  they  are  a  system  of  fine 
fibers  which  carry  stimuli  and  messages  back  and  forth 
between  the  body  and  the  brain.  These  fibers  look  like 
slender  threads.  They  run  from  the  brain  to  the  spinal 
cord,  from  the  cord  to  the  muscles,  then  from  the  muscles 
up  again  to  the  spinal  cord  and  the  brain.  Just  under 
the  skin  these  fibers  cover  the  body  in  a  close  network, 
and  it  is  through  their  aid  that  living  beings  think  and 
feel  and  move. 

More  than  this,  it  is  well  to  know  that  nerve  fibers 
are  divided  into  two  groups  which  do  two  kinds  of  work. 
One  group  carries  stimuli  to  the  brain  from  skin,  eye, 
ear,  nose,  tongue,  and  from  all  the  internal  organs  of 


256  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

the  body.    The  other  group  carries  commands  from  the 
brain  to  every  point  in  the  body  that  needs  directing. 

When  a  baby  sees  a  flame,  laughs  with  joy,  thrusts  his 
fingers  into  it,  and  pulls  them  out  again  with  a  scream, 
several  sets  of  fibers  have  been  at  work : 

1.  One  set,  from  the  eyes,  compelled  the  brain  to 
see  a  lovely  color. 

2.  Another  set  brought  word  from  brain  to  hand 
muscles,  "  Feel  of  it." 

3.  A  third   set  carried   a  stimulus  to  the   brain, 
which  seemed  to  say,  "  Something  dreadful  is  hap- 
pening to  the  fingers." 

4.  A  fourth  set   brought   the  prompt  command, 
"  Pull  the  fingers  out  of  the  color  as  fast  as  possible." 

In  the  meantime  other  groups  of  fibers  set  other 
muscles  to  work,  so  that  at  one  point  the  baby  opened 
its  mouth  to  laugh  with  joy,  and  a  moment  later  opened 
it  again  to  scream  with  pain.  Still  other  fibers  com- 
manded the  heart  to  pump  faster  and  send  more  blood 
to  the  excited  head.  They  commanded  the  tear  glands 
to  manufacture  salt  water  with  incredible  speed  and  in 
great  abundance.  They  set  lungs  and  vocal  cords  to 
work,  too.  And  as  the  result  of  so  much  stimulation 
sent  up  to  the  brain  and  so  many  commands  sent  down 
from  the  brain,  we  end  with  a  nervously  exhausted, 
screaming,  red-faced,  tear-stained  baby,  rather  a  dejected- 
looking  living  machine. 


NERVES  THAT  UNITE  MUSCLE  AND  BRAIN       257 

If  we  could  ever  follow  any  series  of  messages  up  and 
down,  we  should  learn  to  understand  how  swift  their 
flight  is.  Stimuli  from 
remote  regions  of  the 
body  fly  upward  to  the 
brain,  and  there,  in 
what  is  really  the  great 
central  station,  the  vari- 
ous kinds  are  recog- 
nized and  attended  to. 
r-  1-1 

Commands  are    issued 
at    once,   and    each   of  °NE  SET  OF  FlBERS  AT  WoRK 

these  now  goes  by  its  own  road  downward  to  the  spinal 
cord.  From  there  it  is  flashed  across  an  unbroken  long- 
extended  fiber  to  a  toe, 
or  a  finger  tip,  or  to  any 
muscle  of  the  body  that 
is  to  be  controlled  by  it. 
The  longest  fibers  are 
those  which  carry  an  im- 
pulse from  the  toe  up 
into  the  backbone,  and 
that  bring  commands 
back  over  the  same  dis- 

ANOTHER  SET  OF  FIBERS  AT  WORK  T  ,    n 

tance.     In    a    tall    man 

these  fibers,  carrying  messages  in  one  direction  or  the 
other,  may  be  four  or  five  feet  long. 


258 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


If  by  any  clever  process  we  could  separate  the  nerves 
of  a  man  from  the  rest  of  his  body,  if  we  could  turn  each 
one  of  these  nerves  into  something  stiff  and  firm,  and 

then  could  stand  the  entire 
group  on  a  pedestal  in  pre- 
cisely the  shape  which  it  had 
when  it  did  its  work  in  the 
body,  this  network  of  stiff 
nerves  would  be  so  delicate 
and  so  closely  woven  together 
that  we  should  be  able  to 
follow  perfectly  the  outline 
of  the  man  to  whom  it  be- 
longed. We  should  know  his 
height,  the  breadth  of  his 
shoulders,  the  size  of  head, 
hands,  and  feet ;  while  at  the 
same  time  we  should  note  that 
on  certain  parts  of  his  skin  the 
network  was  finer  and  more 
intricate  than  on  other  parts. 

NERVES  THAT  SHOW  THE  OUTLINE  If,  going  further,  WC  should 

OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  cut    that    nerve    figure   open, 

we  should  find  other  great  clusters  of  nerves  that  showed 
the  outline  of  every  separate  organ  of  the  body. 

Having  seen  all  this,  unless  we  know  the  facts  of  the 
case,  we  might  give  a  thousand  wild  guesses  as  to  what 


NERVES  THAT  UNITE  MUSCLE  AND  BRAIN       259 

this  wilderness  of  nerves  was  for  and  how  it  was  ever 
able  to  control  the  sensations  and  the  movements  of  a 
human  being.  Some  knowledge  of  the  working  of  the 
brain  will  help  explain  the  difficulty  to  us. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

THE  CENTER  OF  CONTROL  — THE  BRAIN 

Dr.  Howell,  in  his  physiology,  describes  the  case  of  a 
dog  who  met  with  misfortune,  lost  the  upper  part  of  his 
brain  —  the  cerebrum  as  it  is  called  —  and  led  a  singular 
life  ever  afterwards. 

Those  who  were  studying  the  case  kept  the  dog  alive 
a  year  and  a  half,  and  they  saw  that  although  the  animal 
did  not  suffer  actual  pain,  still  he  did  not  know  enough 
to  feed  himself ;  he  did  not  even  recognize  his  food  when 
he  saw  it ;  he  showed  no  pleasure  when  caressed  nor  any 
fear  when  threatened.  Not  a  trick  that  he  had  ever 
learned  did  he  now  remember.  And  as  for  burying 
bones  for  future  use,  there  was  no  thought  of  such  a 
thing.  Indeed,  from  the  moment  he  lost  his  cerebrum 
until  he  died  he  seemed  to  do  no  thinking  whatever. 
Memory  was  so  entirely  gone  that  he  recalled  nothing 
that  he  had  ever  learned.  Formerly  he  had  been  a  clever 
and  sprightly  dog,  remembering  old  tricks,  learning  new 
ones,  stealing  bones  and  burying  them,  frightening  cats, 
loving  his  friends  and  fighting  his  foes ;  but  from  the 
moment  he  lost  his  cerebrum  all  was  changed.  Hence- 
forward he  was  dull,  inactive  and  uninteresting. 

260 


THE  CENTER  OF  CONTROL  — THE  BRAIN 


26l 


In  man  the  cerebrum  is  even  more  important.  He 
may  lose  part  of  it  through  disease  or  accident  and  still 
be  able  to  live  and  think ;  but  if  he  loses  the  whole  of 
it,  he  dies.  If  it  is  injured,  he  suffers  in  various  ways. 
We  have  thus  come 
upon  the  region  of 
the  brain  that  is 
most  vitally  con- 
nected with  our 
thinking,  with  our 
activity,  and  with 
our  power  to  judge 
what  is  best  for 
ourselves. 

This  constantly 
active  and  most  im- 
portant part  of  the 
nervous  system  lies 
just  under  the  skull. 
It  is  the  largest  di- 
vision of  the  brain, 
is  separated  into  two  halves  called  hemispheres,  and  the 
two  together  make  up  what  is  called  the  cerebrum. 

If  you  ever  have  a  chance,  take  in  your  hands  a  human 
brain  that  has  been  preserved  in  alcohol,  and  let  a  doctor 
describe  it  to  you.  First  of  all,  however,  you  will  notice 
that  the  substance  itself  looks  like  nothing  so  much  as 


THE  HEMISPHERES  OF  MAN'S  CEREBRUM, 
THE  CENTER  OF  CONTROL 


262  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

a  neatly  folded,  closely  packed  mass  of  gray  putty,  so 
lifeless  and  so  uninteresting  that  you  may  feel  like  ex- 
claiming : 

"  Is  this  the  great  commander  in  chief  of  the  body  of 
man !  Is  this  queer-looking  stuff  the  basis  of  all  my 
thinking  and  my  feeling ! " 

But  let  the  doctor  hold  it  and  explain  it  to  you,  part 
by  part.  Watch  his  eyes ;  listen  to  his  voice  as  he  does 
it ;  for  they  will  tell  you  that  to  him  this  lifeless  mass  is 
interesting  in  every  smallest  division.  He  will  press  one 
part  away  from  another  at  the  surface  and  you  will  see 
that  although  each  can  be  separated  slightly  from  its 
neighbor,  still  all  are  firmly  held  together  at  the  center. 
In  his  enthusiasm  the  doctor  may  also  mention  one  long 
scientific  name  after  another,  each  belonging  to  its  own 
special  brain  division.  But  if  he  is  wise  he  will  tell  you 
that  for  the  present  you  are  to  remember  but  two  of  the 
names  —  cerebrum  and  cerebellum. 

He  will  probably  mention  them  in  that  order,  for 
the  cerebrum  is  larger  and  higher  up,  a  soft  gray  cap  it 
seems  to  be,  folded  closely  in  deep  creases,  overlapping 
everything  below  it.  Nevertheless  the  cerebellum  is  in 
sight  just  beneath,  at  the  back  of  the  head.  This  too  is 
folded  and  wrinkled  and  gray. 

It  may  be  that  you  will  ask  some  questions  about  these 
deep  creases  in  both  cerebrum  and  cerebellum ;  and  it 
may  be  that  the  doctor  will  flash  back  his  swift  answer, 


THE  CENTER  OF  CONTROL  — THE  BRAIN    263 

"  The  more  wrinkles,  the  more  wits,"  for  that  states  the  case 
concisely.  "  But  what  good  do  the  creases  do  ?  "  you  ask 
again.  "  Give  more  surface  for  the  gray  stuff  to  be  spread 
over,"  comes  back  the  answer  quick  and  positive.  And 


A    CUT   THROUGH    THE    BRAIN 

A,  B,  C,  Z>,  L  show  folds  in  the  cerebrum ;  £,  F  show  the  gray 

and  white  of  the  cerebellum ;  K,  H  show  the  upper  divisions  of 

the  spinal  cord 

that  answer  leads  the  doctor  up  to  the  point  of  his  greatest 
enthusiasm,  the  gray  and  white  substance  of  the  brain. 

Gray  is  all  you  have  seen  thus  far,  for  it  bends  in  and 
out  with  every  fold  and  crease  as  if  the  whole  substance 
of  the  brain  were  solid  gray.  "  But  look  here,"  exclaims 
the  doctor,  as  he  presses  open  a  deep  cut  which  he  has 
made  with  his  knife  through  the  gray  cap,  "  see  how 


264  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

little  gray  there  really  is ;  only  an  outside  layer  about  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  thick,  and  thinner  than  that  in  spots. 
But  every  thought  you  have,  every  pain  you  feel,  every 
plan  you  make,  every  hope  that  thrills  you,  every  pur- 
pose and  ambition  of  your  life  is  intimately  connected 
with  this  thin  gray  layer  that  covers  the  white  substance 
below  it." 

While  you  are  thinking  this  over  in  amazement  he 
will  probably  go  on  to  say  that  the  injury  or  disease  of 
any  part  of  that  gray  layer  of  the  brain  may  rob  you 
of  one  sense  or  another,  or  even  destroy  your  brain 
power  in  the  very  direction  where  you  thought  you 
were  strongest. 

"If  this  particular  brain  had  been  injured  here,"  the 
doctor  will  say,  pointing  to  a  certain  spot  on  the  gray 
surface,  "  its  owner  would  not  have  been  able  to  recog- 
nize anything  that  the  eye  looked  at.  And  this  is  the 
worst  sort  of  blindness,  for  when  the  sight  center  of  the 
cerebrum  is  gone  a  man  cannot  so  much  *as  remember 
what  seeing  was  like." 

Accidents  to  the  brain  have  taught  some  of  these 
facts ;  diseases  of  the  brain  have  taught  others ;  while 
the  study  of  the  brains  of  animals  has  let  in  a  flood  of 
light  on  the  whole  subject.  So  that  at  the  present  time 
scientists  know  that  a  definite  part  of  the  gray  layer  is 
active  for  each  separate  sensation  and  for  the  power  to 
move  each  separate  part  of  the  body. 


THE  CENTER  OF  CONTROL  — THE  BRAIN    265 

This  layer  is  called  the  cortex,  and  cortex  means  bark. 
It  is  clear  then  that  the  gray  bark  that  covers  both  cere- 
brum and  cerebellum  is  the  most  precious  part  of  the 
human  body.  For  this  reason  it  needs  a  stout  protec- 
tion, and  it  gets  it  in  the  firmly  knit,  sturdy  skull  which 
surrounds  it. 

Instead  of  being  a  snug  fit  in  its  case,  there  is  a  little 
space  filled  with  liquid,  which  separates  the  brain  from 
the  skull. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 


NERVE  MACHINERY 

From  what  looks  like  the  confused  tangle  of  fibers 
under  the  skin  it  would  seem  as  if  messages  might  some- 
times get  lost  on  their  journey,  —  as  if  those  intended  for 
one  particular  spot  might  find  themselves  delivered  at 
the  wrong  place,  bringing  despair  to  the  brain.  But 

this  never  happens.  The 
confusion  is  only  appar- 
ent ;  it  is  caused  by  the 
way  the  bundles  of  fibers 
are  variously  bound  to- 
gether. 

If  we  had  eyes  keen 
enough  to  see  the  fibers 
themselves,  instruments 
delicate  enough  to  do 
the  work,  and  hands 
steady  enough  to  use  the  instruments  without  tearing  the 
fibers,  we  might  unwrap  them,  bundle  after  bundle,  and 
trace  them  from  start  to  finish.  We  should  then  find  that 
every  white  nerve  is  a  bundle  of  nerve  fibers,  each  one  of 

which  is  neatly  and  snugly  wrapped  by  a  fatty  covering 

266 


NERVE  FIBERS  THAT  END  IN  MUSCLE 
(Highly  magnified) 


NERVE  MACHINERY  267 

that  makes  it  look  white,  and  that  the  difference  between 
large  nerves  and  small  nerves  is  quite  the  same  as  the 
difference  between  large  bundles  of  telephone  wires  and 
small  bundles  of  wires,  for  in  each  the  number  of  separate 
strands  explains  the  size. 

As  we  studied  the  nerves  in  this  way  we  should  dis- 
cover for  ourselves  where  the  largest  ones  are  and  how 
they  are  related  to  the  backbone.  We  should  see  that 
the  bones  of  the  back  are  so  ingeniously  locked  together 
that  a  round  opening  is  left  on  each  side  of  each  vertebra, 
and  that  as  there  are  thirty-one  vertebrae  there  must  be 
sixty-two  openings  in  all.  We  should  then  notice  that 
the  largest  nerves  of  the  entire  nervous  system  are  these 
sixty-two  spinal  nerves  which  find  their  way  to  the  body 
through  the  backbone ;  and  we  should  see  that  as  soon 
as  each  leaves  the  bone  the  dividing  begins.  Large 
bundles,  from  the  cord,  become  smaller  through  their 
dividing,  then  still  smaller ;  they  hold  anywhere  from  two 
hundred  to  twelve  hundred  separate  fibers ;  they  continue 
to  divide  and  subdivide,  so  that  fibers  which  started  in 
the  same  bundle  are  soon  widely  separated. 

Often  these  fibers  pass  out  of  the  wrappings  of  one 
bundle  into  the  wrappings  of  another.  They  do  this  so 
constantly  that  these  various  bundles,  as  they  grow 
smaller,  are  joined  together  like  an  intricate  network. 
They  twine  and  intertwine,  but  not  a  fiber  loses  its  way. 
Each  tiny  one  of  the  millions  that  form  that  lacework  of 


268 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


fibers  is  a  continuous  path  from  some  definite  point  on 

the  skin,  or  from  some 
muscle  or  gland,  to  some 
definite  point  in  the 
spinal  cord ;  and  so  long 
as  no  accident  or  wound 
cuts  the  nerve  in  two  the 
stimulus  which  each  may 
receive  will  travel  straight 
and  true  from  the  point 
of  the  body  where  that 
fiber  is  stimulated,  to  the 
spinal  cord,  which  will 
send  the  impulse  on  to 
the  brain  by  other  fibers. 
But  accidents  are  fre- 
quent, and  they  teach 
scientists  wonderful  facts 
about  those  long-armed 
nerve  fibers.  One  of 
these  facts  is  that  nerves 

WHERE  THE  STIMULUS  GOES.  INTERTWINED    are  useful  or  not  accord- 
NERVE  F.BERS.N  THE  CORTEX  .          ^    .  ^^    un_ 

Notice  the  countless  nerve  fibers  which  run  . 

up  and  down  and  crosswise  (highly  magni-     broken.        1  hink     OI     the 

fied).- After  Koiiiker  burning  baby  fingers. 

His  nerves  of  feeling  and  nerves  of  motion  were  in  good 
running   order;   he   felt   pain   and   could   pull   his   hand 


NERVE  MACHINERY  269 

away;  but  if  a  certain  set  of  fibers  had  been  cut  across 
so  that  the  connection  was  broken,  no  stimulus  would 
have  reached  his  brain.  The  baby  could  then  have  left 
his  fingers  in  the  fire  until  they  were  burned  off  with- 
out feeling  the  slightest  pain.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
different  set  of  fibers  had  been  cut,  no  command  could 
have  reached  the  fingers  from  the  brain.  The  baby  would 
have  suffered  frightful  pain,  but  he  would  not  have  been 
able  to  move  his  fingers  back  or  forth  to  get  out  of  trouble. 
His  arm  muscles  would  have  had  to  come  to  the  rescue 
of  finger  muscles  and  pull  the  hand  away. 

If  both  sets  of  fibers  had  been  cut  the  baby  would  not 
have  felt  any  pain,  nor  would  he  have  been  able  to  move  his 
finger.  But  the  burning  would  have  gone  on  just  the  same. 

The  impulse  which  passes  over  a  fiber  is  always  truth- 
ful if  that  fiber  is  uncut  and  uninjured  from  end  to  end ; 
but  if  damage  has  been  done  strange  reports  may  reach 
the  brain.  Old  soldiers  testify  to  this.  One  of  these  men 
lives  near  my  home,  and  when  we  met  the  other  day  he 
said  :  "  Is  n't  it  strange,  my  leg  was  cut  off  over  ten  years 
ago,  but  last  night  the  heel  of  that  foot  itched  and  pained 
me  so  that  I  thought  I  should  go  crazy."  "  What  did  you 
do  ? "  I  asked.  "  Put  a  hot-water  bag  against  the  stump, 
warmed  the  thing  up,  and  finally  got  relief."  Of  course 
he  knew  as  well  as  I  did  that  something  was  irritating  the 
live  ends  of  the  fibers  that  used  to  send  reports  from 
the  heel  to  the  brain,  and  that  when  the  brain  received 


270  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

the  stimulus  it  had  no  way  of  knowing  that  the  fibers 
had  been  cut  in  two  and  that  their  extreme  ends  were 
no  lower  down  than  the  knee.  The  thinking  and  seeing 
part  of  my  friend's  brain  did  certainly  tell  him  the  truth. 
He  knew  that  there  was  no  heel  there.  Nevertheless, 
even  that  knowledge  could  not  change  the  reports  which 
faithful  fibers  were  bound  to  send  to  headquarters  in 
the  brain.  Something  was  out  of  order  in  their  neigh- 
borhood, and  they  clamored  for  help  until  it  came  in  the 
shape  of  a  hot-water  bag. 

From  all  this  it  is  evident  that  nerves  and  brain  and 
muscles  are  pretty  closely  connected.  The  connection  is 
indeed  so  very  close  that  scientists  have  perhaps  given 
more  attention  to  the  nervous  system  than  to  any  other 
part  of  the  body.  By  doing  this  they  have  discovered 
that  nerves  are  really  much  more  complex  than  they 
seem  at  the  first  glance  we  give  to  them.  In  point  of 
fact  a  microscope  in  the  hands  of  a  trained  scientist 
tells  strange  secrets  about  all  nerve  substance.  I  shall 
state  a  few  of  these  hidden  truths  in  a  straightforward, 
matter-of-fact  way: 

1.  Just  as  muscles  are  made  up  of  muscle  cells, 
so  too  is  nerve  substance  made  up  of  nerve  cells. 

2.  A    nerve   cell   has   a  central   body  with  arms 
reaching  away  from  it. 

3.  Each   separate   fiber  in  any  bundle   of    nerve 
fibers  is  the  long  arm  of  some  nerve  cell. 


NERVE  MACHINERY  271 

4.  The  center  of  the  cell  —  the  cell  body,  as  it  is 
called  —  has   a  gray  color.    The  arms   of    the    cell 
look  white  because  they  are  wrapped  about  by  a 
white  covering. 

5.  The    cell   bodies    of   the   nervous  system    are 
located  in  the  cortex  of  the  brain,  in  the  center  of 
the  spinal  cord,  and  in  the  ganglia. 

6.  A  ganglion  is  a  group  of  nerve  cells  unpro- 
tected by  any  bony  covering.    There  are  important 
ganglia  in  different  parts  of  the  body. 

7.  Nerve  fibers  carry  stimulus  to  the  spinal  cord. 
There  other  fibers  from  other  cell   bodies  receive 
the  stimulus  and  hasten  it  on  to  cells  in  the  cortex 
of  the  brain.    These  cells  then  send  down  commands 
and  messages  by  other  sets  of  connected  fibers  which 
stretch  away  to  this  part  of  the  body  or  that. 

Wherever  cell  bodies  are  clustered,  whether  in  brain, 
spinal  corcl,  or  ganglion,  there  we  have  that  interesting 
place,  a  nerve  telegraph  station.  It  resembles  a  city  tele- 
graph station  in  two  ways : 

1.  It  has  fibers  that  do  the  work  of  wires  and  con- 
nect the  central  station  with  different  points  here 
and  there.    These  carry  messages  hither  and  thither. 

2.  If  a  fiber  is  separated  from  its  own  particular 
cell  in  that  central  cluster  it  is  as  useless  as  is  a 
telegraph  wire  after  it  has  been  separated  from  its 
telegraph  station. 


272 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


We  see,  then,  that  the  vital  part  of  each  nerve  cell  is 
the  gray  cell  body,  and  we  realize  why  it  is  that  a  cluster 
of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  these  cells  becomes  one 
of  the  most  fascinating  centers  of  activity  in  the  world. 


FOUR  NERVE  CELLS 

A  and  C,  from  the  cerebellum ;  B,  from  the  spinal  cord ;  I},  from  the  cere- 
brum. The  cells  A  and  D  are  stained  so  that  the  main  body  and  the  fibers 
are  black.  B  and  C  show  what  is  called  the  nucleus  ;  every  nerve  cell  has 

a  nucleus 

Especially  so  as  it  appears  that  each  fiber  that  enters 
the  central  station  is  responsible  for  one  sort  of  mes- 
sage alone,  and  that  it  can  never  carry  a  message  of  any 
other  kind. 


NERVE  MACHINERY  273 

Since  the  two  sets  of  fibers  carrying  messages  in  oppo- 
site directions  are  so  close  together,  the  ignorant  per- 
son might  wonder  whether  or  not  any  mistakes  are  ever 
made  in  the  work  they  do.  The  answer  is,  that  this 
never  happens.  Never  in  a  single  instance  does  any  fiber 
in  any  bundle  carry  a  message  the  wrong  way  or  ex- 
change its  message  for  that  which  a  neighbor  fiber  is 
carrying.  The  reason  is  that  each  fiber  is  separated  from 
all  the  others  by  its  own  particular  outside  wrapping. 

And  now  we  understand  the  gray  and  white  substance 
of  the  brain.  The  gray  layer  is  a  mass  of  millions  of  cell 
bodies  packed  together  and  joined  to  each  other  by  white- 
covered  fibers. 

The  white  stuff  is  a  compact  mass  of  fibers,  each  one 
of  which  stretches  away  with  its  silvery  sheath  from  its 
individual  cell  in  the  gray  layer.  Millions  of  these  fibers 
join  one  part  of  the  brain  with  another  part  of  the  same 
brain.  Still  other  millions  go  downward  towards  the 
spinal  cord,  and  there,  within  the  firm  protection  of  the 
backbone,  impulses  of  every  sort  fly  upward  to  the  brain, 
while  at  the  same  instant,  on  separate  roads,  countless 
commands  go  from  the  brain  to  the  muscles  of  the  body. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII 

TRAIN  THE  CEREBELLUM 

A  famous  scientist  named  Flourens  once  noticed  that 
although  a  pigeon  with  a  useless  cerebellum  does  not 
suffer  pain,  it  does  nevertheless  have  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty in  standing  and  moving  about.  He  saw  that  when  it 
moves,  the  muscles  do  not  pull  together  in  orderly  fashion, 
but  rather  in  an  independent,  helter-skelter  way,  each 
muscle,  as  it  were,  pulling  for  itself  without  reference  to 
any  other  muscle,  so  that  instead  of  walking  the  poor  bird 
turns  one  somersault  after  another  in  rapid  succession. 

Dr.  Flourens  also  noticed  that  the  less  the  cerebellum 
is  injured  the  less  the  pigeon  is  troubled  with  these  dis- 
orderly movements,  although  even  then  it  walks  in  a 
staggering,  drunken  way.  It  appears,  however,  that  such 
pigeons  may  slowly  learn  to  control  their  muscles  again, 
and  that  after  a  while  they  are  able  to  walk  and  even  to 
fly  once  more ;  but  they  never  do  it  so  well  as  before. 

From  these  and  other  facts  which  they  have  gathered, 
men  who  study  the  subject  conclude  that  the  cerebellum 
is  an  enormous  help  to  the  cerebrum  in  the  matter  of 
controlling  such  muscles  as  we  are  able  to  guide  by  our 

own  will  power.    They  say  that  while  the  cerebrum  is  the 

274 


TRAIN  THE  CEREBELLUM 


275 


commanding  general  of  the  nervous  system  the  cerebel- 
lum is  the  chief  of  staff,  the  one  that  helps  take  charge  of 
numberless  movements  which  we  have  learned  to  make 
through  persistent,  diligent  practice.  When  we  were 
babies  and  learned  to  walk  we  thought  about  each  step 
as  we  took  it.  If  our 
minds  were  diverted, 

if  certain  special  A ^^^^^^mmm^^m^,.-'-- C 

thinking  nerve  cells 
stopped  attending  B 
to  our  footsteps,  we 
tumbled  down  in- 
stantly. For  weeks, 
and  even  for  months, 
we  hardly  dared  to 
walk  alone. 

To-day,  however, 
after  years  of  prac- 
tice We  Walk  every-  They  guide  our  unconscious  movements.  A,  D,  £, 


D 


CELLS  IN  THE  CEREBELLUM 


where   without 


giv 


cell  bodies ;  B,  C,  fibers.  —  After  Ramon  y  Cajal 


ing  a  thought  to  any  separate  footstep.  We  even  step 
so  fast  that  we  run  and  dance ;  we  ride  the  bicycle  and 
we  swim.  Indeed,  we  do  all  this  so  well,  and  we  are  able 
to  think  of  so  many  other  things  while  we  use  our  feet 
and  hands  vigorously,  that  it  looks  very  much  as  if  they 
had  become  quite  independent  of  the  brain.  This,  in 
fact,  explains  the  whole  situation.  Their  movements 


276  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

have  at  last  been  put  in  charge  of  a  different  set  of 
nerve  cells.  The  happy  part  of  this  arrangement  is  that 
the  particular  nerve  cells  which  do  what  we  might  call 
this  underground  managing  for  us  are,  as  a  rule,  more 
trustworthy  than  those  which  help  our  conscious  thinking. 

The  same  law  and  the  same  power  of  the  nerve  cell 
holds  good  in  other  directions  also.  What  trained  base- 
ball player  stops  to  think  of  each  separate  run  and  slide, 
how  to  hold  the  bat,  how  to  pitch  the  curved  ball,  how 
to  catch  it  ?  He  simply  takes  his  place  to  play  the  game  ; 
he  trusts  his  trained  nerve  cells  to  help  him,  and  he  finds 
that  almost  unconsciously  he  makes  the  right  motion  at 
the  right  instant,  that  he  plays  the  game  even  better 
than  he  could  tell  another  how  to  play  it. 

This  is  quite  as  true  in  still  other  lines  of  life.  I  know 
a  fine  young  fellow,  a  freshman  in  college,  who  has  lately 
taken  up  a  noticeable  practice.  Often  when  he  stands 
still,  and  even  when  he  walks,  he  may  be  seen  suddenly 
to  straighten  his  neck  and  press  the  back  of  it  firmly 
against  the  inside  of  his  collar.  Why  does  he  do  it? 
For  the  simplest  of  reasons.  He  believes  that  his  head 
bends  too  far  forward  to  be  creditable,  and  he  has  made 
up  his  mind  to  put  his  neck  muscles  in  charge  of  a  new 
set  of  nerve  cells.  Every  time  he  thinks  about  it,  there- 
fore, he  sends  imperative  orders  to  those  muscles.  They 
straighten  his  neck  promptly  and  he  gets  his  head  up 
where  it  belongs.  He  knows  that  each  pull  in  the  right 


TRAIN  THE  CEREBELLUM  277 

direction  helps  train  a  certain  set  of  nerve  cells,  and  that 
if  he  is  able  to  persist  long  enough  he  will  finally  get 
them  so  well  trained  that  they  will  end  by  making  the 
muscles  hold  his  head  up  all  the  time  without  any  con- 
scious thought  about  it  on  his  own  part,  and  that  this 
will  relieve  his  mind  for  other  affairs. 

When  we  are  teaching  ourselves  new  lessons  the  time 
for  encouragement  is  at  the  first  sign  that  we  are  doing 
the  desired  thing  unconsciously.  For  example,  we  may 
be  training  various  sets  of  nerve  cells  to  help  us  in  definite 
ways  —  to  walk  like  a  soldier,  to  sit  erect,  to  talk  in  a  low 
voice,  to  hold  knife  and  fork  and  spoon  as  we  should,  to 
recite  the  multiplication  table,  or  to  repeat  a  poem ;  and 
day  after  clay  we  may  be  discouraged  by  the  fact  that  as 
soon  as  our  own  thought  is  off  the  subject  we  fail  in  our 
struggle  ;  but,  without  warning,  some  day  the  moment  for 
encouragement  will  come.  We  shall  find  that  we  have 
done  the  desired  thing  as  we  wished  to  do  it,  even  while 
we  were  not  thinking  about  it,  and  by  that  sign  we  shall 
know  that^we  have  reached  the  turning  point.  By  being 
persistent  a  little  longer,  those  particular  nerve  cells  will 
have  their  lesson  by  heart,  and  the  fight  will  be  won. 

This  method  of  training  is  admirable  for  any  set  of 
nerve  cells  which  we  wish  to  press  into  service,  but,  even 
when  we  are  not  training  them  on  purpose,  our  nerve  cells 
often  get  trained  in  spite  of  our  real  desire.  As  an  exam- 
ple, think  of  those  which  control  the  muscles  of  the  face. 


278  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

When  you  are  glad  or  sad  some  day,  try  to  catch  the  exact 
expression  of  your  face  in  the  mirror,  or  look  at  the  face 
of  some  one  else  who  is  happy,  or  angry,  or  suffering 
great  pain.  In  every  such  case  you  will  find  that,  uncon- 
sciously, the  muscles  tell  a  plain,  straightforward  story. 

The  truth,  of  course,  is  that  almost  every  feeling  we 
have  may  express  itself  in  the  face,  and  that  each  repetition 
of  the  expression  is  one  more  lesson  for  the  nerve  cells 
which  control  those  muscles  to  learn.  The  sad  man,  the 
worried  man,  the  happy  man,  the  hopeful  or  discouraged 
man,  each  has  his  own  telltale  face  muscles ;  and  a  good 
student  of  human  nature  learns  to  read  these  faces  almost 
as  easily  as  if  they  were  the  pages  of  a  book  spread  out 
before  him. 

As  might  be  expected,  it  is  old  rather  than  young  faces 
that  most  easily  betray  their  owners.  I  myself  am  old 
enough  to  know  this  from  my  own  observation.  I  have 
seen  a  fair,  smooth  child's  face  change  little  by  little  into 
the  strong,  courageous,  unselfish  face  of  a  man  who  is 
ready  and  glad  to  do  his  duty  whether  he  likes  it  or  not. 
And  I  have  seen  another  face,  equally  fair,  equally  smooth, 
and  equally  young,  turn  little  by  little  into  the  dissatisfied, 
weak,  and  sneering  face  of  a  man  who  never  serves  any 
one  but  himself.  Without  planning  for  anything  of  the 
sort,  with  no  idea  of  what  was  happening  to  him,  each  of 
these  men  has  trained  his  nerve  cells ;  and  they  tell  the 
truth  about  him  even  when  he  might  prefer  to  have  them 


TRAIN  THE  CEREBELLUM  279 

tell  a  different  story.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  every  young 
face  is  shaping  itself  to  the  expression  it  will  have  later; 
and  that  the  time  is  sure  to  come  when  the  tale  of  our 
inner  lives  will  be  told  by  the  outward  expression  of  face 
and  manner.  When  that  time  arrives  we  may  long  to  hide 
the  facts  about  the  history  of  our  emotions.  But  we  shall 
find  that  we  cannot  cheat  the  nerve  cells.  Instead,  the 
story  which  they  have  been  trained  to  tell  will  proclaim  the 
facts  about  us  whenever  and  wherever  we  show  ourselves. 
In  this  chapter  we  have  laid  bare  four  great  laws: 

1.  He  who  wishes  to  do  any  sort  of  muscular  work 
easily  and  well,  and  so  thoroughly  that  it  cannot  be 
forgotten,  must,  by  diligent  practice,  put  that  special 
business  in  charge  of  its   own  set   of  unconscious 
nerve  cells. 

2.  Nerve  cells  are  often  so  quick  and  clever  that 
they  learn  that  which  we  would  much  rather  they 
would  not  learn ;  and  they  proclaim  the  truth  even 
when  we  wish  them  to  hide  it. 

3.  If  we  wish  our  nerve  cells  to  declare  that  we  are 
courageous,  kind,  and  sincere,  the  only  way  to  make 
them  do  it  is  by  being  courageous,  kind,  and  sincere. 

4.  He  who  pretends   to  have  desirable  qualities 
when  he  really  lacks  them  will  find  that,  through  the 
power  of  his  nerve  cells,  in  spite  of  his  desire,  he  act- 
ually declares  to  those  whom  he  meets  that  it  is  all 
mere  pretense. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

TRAIN  THE  NERVE  CELLS  OF  THE  SENSES 

A  friend  of  mine  whose  senses  are  all  in  good  working 
order  is  developing  two  of  them  in  a  delightful  way.  He 
thinks  he  is  simply  studying  birds.  This  indeed  he  does, 
but  while  he  studies  his  birds  his  eyesight  grows  keener 
in  its  power  to  recognize  them,  while  hearing  also  grows 
more  trustworthy ;  and  the  outcome  of  it  is  that  almost 
never  does  a  bird  fly  overhead  within  sight  or  sound  of 
him  but  he  recognizes  it  at  once. 

Sometimes  he  knows  it  by  the  way  it  flies ;  sometimes 
by  the  color  of  wing,  breast,  or  tail ;  sometimes  by  its 
shape ;  sometimes  by  its  size.  Whatever  the  mark,  in  a 
flash,  when  he  sees  the  bird,  he  knows  it  and  names  it. 
Others  who  are  with  him  may  have  seen  nothing  but  a 
bit  of  color  passing  by,  or  a  small  shape  on  a  swaying 
tree  top ;  but  he  has  seen  all  that  the  trained  eye  can 
see,  and  he  is  able  to  give  the  color  or  the  shape  its  own 
definite  name. 

What  he  does  not  see  he  often  hears.  He  sits  under 
a  wide  tree,  and  with  every  bird  song  that  reaches  him, 
every  twitter,  every  call  or  cry,  he  names  the  bird.  He 
will  also  tell  you  whether  it  is  singing  to  its  mate  on  the 


280 


TRAIN  THE  NERVE  CELLS  OF  THE  SENSES       281 

nest,  or  talking  to  its  young,  or  giving  a  warning  cry  that 
danger  is  near. 

This  college  student  keeps  a  record  by  name  of  all  the 
birds  he  sees  or  hears.  It  is  now  early  June,  and  already, 
since  January,  his  roll  call  includes  one  hundred  and 
seventy-three  different  birds.  Some  he  has  recognized 
by  sight,  some  by  sound,  but  neither  eye  nor  ear  could 
have  named  them  save  as  each  sense  was  trained  to  do 
its  work. 

Whether  a  man  watches  birds,  or  collects  stamps, 
coins,  or  pictures,  whether  he  is  blacksmith,  preacher, 
carpenter,  lawyer,  merchant,  editor,  sailor,  or  newsboy, 
he  will  find  that  trained  senses  lead  to  the  promised 
land  of  success. 

Men  in  all  countries  have  discovered  this  for  them- 
selves. We  are  told  l  that  natives  in  central  Australia 
know  every  bird  track  and  every  beast  track  by  sight,  and 
that  this  knowledge  does  not  come  to  them  through  any 
accident.  It  seems,  indeed,  that  from  earliest  childhood 
Australian  boys  and  girls  are  taught  to  notice  tracks  of 
all  sorts,  and  that  at  the  same  time  they  are  also  taught 
to  imitate  these  tracks  with  their  fingers  in  the  sand. 

The  result  is  that  a  full-grown,  experienced  tracker,  as 
he  is  called,  can  follow  obscure  tracks  which  we  should 
never  notice,  and  can  recognize  them  even  as  he  rides 
past  rather  swiftly  on  the  back  of  a  horse. 

1  Related  by  Baldwin  Spencer  and  F.  C.  Gillen. 


282  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

But  eyesight  and  touch  do  not  stand  alone ;  the  power 
to  smell  may  be  trained  too.  Think  of  the  Indians  in 
Peru.  Dr.  Carpenter  says  that  in  the  darkest  night 
these  people  can  tell,  by  the  smell  which  reaches  them, 
whether  a  stranger  who  approaches  is  an  Indian,  a  Eu- 
ropean, or  a  negro.  For  them,  as  for  the  others,  it  is  a 
trained  sense  that  does  the  work. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  same  law  is  true  for  all  sorts 
of  people,  in  lands  however  far  apart.  Everywhere  he 
who  wishes  the  keenest  and  the  surest  sense  of  sight  or 
sound,  taste  or  smell  or  touch,  may  secure  it  by  close 
attention  and  constant  practice. 

The  encouragement  is  that  by  giving  ourselves  train- 
ing enough  we  shall  secure  the  thing  we  desire. 

Along  with  all  these  facts  it  is  important  to  remember 
that  each  separate  sense  depends  on  the  work  clone  by 
three  parts  of  a  delicate  piece  of  machinery : 

1.  Apparatus  which  receives  stimulus:   eye,  ear, 
nose,  skin,  etc. 

2.  Fibers  which  carry  the  impulse. 

3.  Cell  bodies  in  the  cortex  which  recognize  the 
impulse  when  it  arrives. 

In  the  case  of  each  sense,  also,  we  must  suppose  that 
the  outside  apparatus  itself  knows  no  more  about  what 
is  happening  to  it  than  the  mouthpiece  of  a  telephone 
knows  what  we  say  when  we  speak  into  it.  In  point  of 
fact  the  receiving  apparatus  of  each  sense  is  nothing 


TRAIN  THE  NERVE  CELLS  OF  THE  SENSES       283 

more  than  a  marvelous  device  for  receiving  its  own 
special  kind  of  stimulus.  Ear  apparatus  receives  a 
stimulus,  and  when  that  stimulus  reaches  the  brain  by 
way  of  ear  fibers  we  say  we  have  heard  something.  Eye 
apparatus  receives  a  stimulus,  and  when  that  stimulus 
has  reached  the  brain  on  eye  fibers  we  say  we  have  seen 
something.  Skin  and  nose  and  tongue  serve  us  in  the  same 
way.  Each  is  a  piece  of  apparatus  that  receives  stimulus  of 
its  own  kind  and  sends  it  up  to  the  brain  on  its  own  dis- 
tinct set  of  fibers.  In  every  case  the  brain  is  the  receiv- 
ing point ;  the  cells  up  there  feel  our  sensations  for  us. 

Since  we  know  these  many  and  various  facts,  and 
since  we  also  know  that  exercise  always  develops  any 
part  of  the  body  that  is  used  vigorously,  we  are  not  sur- 
prised to  hear  that  by  examining  a  brain  after  death  a 
trained  scientist  can  tell  just  which  set  of  nerve  cells  did 
the  most  work  during  life. 

These  men  may,  for  example,  take  a  bird  that  has  lost 
its  life,  and  point  to  a  certain  place  on  the  brain.  "  You 
see  it  is  very  much  enlarged,"  they  say.  "  That  is  the 
part  that  always  had  the  most  exercise.  It  is  the  sight 
center  of  the  cortex."  And  at  once  we  call  to  mind  the 
stories  we  have  heard  about  the  carrier  pigeons  and 
other  birds,  —  about  the  keenness  of  their  vision  and  the 
distance  they  can  fly  from  home. 

The  brain  of  a  dog  may  be  examined  next.  "  There  !  " 
the  scientist  exclaims,  "do  you  see  this  part?  It  is  the 


284 


TRAIN  THE  NERVE  CELLS  OF  THE  SENSES      285 

center  for  smell,  and  it  is  always  greatly  enlarged  in 
dogs."  And  now  we  recall  all  our  dog  stories.  We  re- 
member that  a  bloodhound  will  trace  a  man  through  a 
crowded  city,  that  the  scent  of  a  dog  is  one  of  his  most 
remarkable  points. 

The  examination  might  go  on  from  brain  to  brain,  from 
animal  to  animal,  each  showing  that  one  of  the  senses  was 
more  highly  developed  than  any  of  the  others. 

In  human  brains,  however,  affairs  are  generally  better 
balanced,  unless  there  has  been  some  great  affliction  dur- 
ing life.  This  was  true  of  Laura  Bridgman.  She  was  deaf 
and  dumb  and  blind  and  had  no  sense  of  smell.  Her  one 
connection  with  the  world  was  through  her  sense  of  touch. 
As  a  result,  the  nerve  cells  of  touch  received  constant 
daily  exercise,  while  the  nerve  cells  of  all  the  other  senses 
received  no  exercise  whatever.  Then  came  the  startling 
discovery ;  for  after  Laura  Bridgman  died  her  brain  itself 
told  the  story  of  her  senses.  Doctors  examined  the  cortex 
and  found  that  it  was  thinnest  at  the  centers  of  seeing, 
hearing,  tasting,  and  smelling.  More  than  this,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  the  doctors  also  found  that  the  touch 
region  of  Laura's  brain  was  wonderfully  developed.1  In 
view  of  all  this  we  draw  the  following  conclusions  for 
immediate  use. 

i.  Although  the  outside  apparatus  does  nothing 
but  receive  stimulus  of  one  sort  or  another,  still,  if 

1  Much  more  is  told  about  Laura  Bridgman  in  Control  of  Body  and  Mind. 


286  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

it  is  ruined  by  disease,  accident,  or  careless  use,  no 
amount  of  striving  on  our  part  will  restore  it  to  us.1 

2.  If  the  apparatus  of  one  sense  has  been  wrecked, 
the  other  senses  may  be  so  highly  developed  as  to 
help  make  up  the  loss. 

3.  Persistent  exercise  of  any  sense  will  increase 
the  thickness  of  the  part  of  the  cortex  to  which  it 
belongs. 

Although  no  examination  of  the  cortex  of  our  own 
cerebrum  is  possible  while  we  are  alive,  still  we  may  have 
the  comfort  of  knowing  that  we  are  improving  its  quality 
here  or  there  in  proportion  as  we  are  giving  one  sense 
or  another  more  or  less  exercise.  The  truth  is  that  our 
senses  are  our  best  friends  or  our  worst  enemies  in  just 
such  measure  as  we  train  or  neglect  them. 

1  Look  up  Good  Health  on  the  care  of  eye  and  ear. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

HELP    THROUGH    HAPPINESS;    OR,    THE   SYMPATHETIC 

GANGLIA 

Before  studying  this  chapter,  test  yourself  in  two  ways. 
First,  try  with  all  your  might  to  make  your  heart  stop 
beating.  Try  to  prevent  the  great  arteries  from  expand- 
ing and  contracting  as  the  blood  surges  through  them  in 
pulses.  See  whether,  by  thinking  and  willing  hard  enough, 
you  can  prevent  your  sweat  glands  and  oil  glands  from 
manufacturing  salt  water  and  oil.  Will  your  stomach 
obey  you  when  you  command  it  to  stop  digesting  your 
food  ? 

Now  turn  the  tables.  Say  to  your  heart  as  it  pounds 
steadily  along :  "  Beat  faster.  Beat  faster.  You  must  beat 
faster."  Will  it  obey  you  ?  No  ;  it  goes  neither  faster  nor 
slower  by  the  fraction  of  a  second.  Your  brain  and  your 
heart  seem  to  be  as  independent  of  each  other  as  if  they 
belonged  to  different  bodies  and  lived  in  different  worlds. 

Nevertheless,  as  we  all  know,  life  itself  depends  on 
the  beating  of  the  heart.  We  know  that  whenever  it 
stops  and  fails  to  start  again  we  shall  die,  but  from  year's 
end  to  year's  end  we  think  nothing  about  it.  At  night 

we   lie   down    to  sleep  with  no  anxiety  lest  the  steady 

287 


288 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


^L 


pulsing  may  cease.  By  day  we  run,  dance, 
dive,  swim,  we  play  leapfrog  and  football, 
we  walk  on  our  hands  and  turn  somer- 
saults, knowing  all  the  while  that  the 
heart  is  affected  by  every  move  we  make; 
but  through  all  that  we  do  we  seem  also 
to  know  that  somehow  the  body  has  an 
arrangement  for  controlling  its  most  im- 
portant life  machinery  whether  we  pay 
attention  to  it  or  not. 

And  so  it  has.  Up  and  down  on  each 
side  of  the  backbone  is  a  chain  of  ganglia 
which  holds  more  vital  power,  perhaps, 
than  any  other  part  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem. It  seems  to  be  nature's  device  for 
relieving  the  brain,  —  a  device  for  keep- 
ing the  vital  machinery  in  running  order 
whether  the  owner  of  the  machinery  gives 
heed  or  ignores  it. 

There  we  have  it  then  !  We  have  come 
upon  the  mystery  of  the  so-called  sympa- 
thetic nervous  system,  the  mystery  of  the 
cells  which  take  charge  of  internal,  bodily 
affairs>—  cells  which  do  their  faithful  work 
On  the  left  are  a  few  whatever  our  commands  to  them  may  be. 
fhis  work  is  in  charge  of  what  is  called 
the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  So  tar 


SPSPINLAL  NE^VK 


sympathetic  ganglia 

joined  by  their  rope 

of  nerve  fibers 


HELP  THROUGH  HAPPINESS  289 

as  location  and  arrangement  are  concerned  it  is  not  very 
difficult  to  understand  the  facts  about  this  system,  and 
the  following  outline  will  give  them  as  simply  as  possible : 

1.  Forty-nine  ganglia  unite  to  form  the  main  part 
of  the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  These  ganglia  be- 
long together  as  a  complete  set.    Twenty-four  lie  on 
one  side  of  the  backbone,  twenty-four  on  the  other  side, 
and  one  lies  in  front  of  the  very  last  bone  of  the  back. 

2.  Each  of  the  forty-nine  ganglia  is  connected  with 
its  neighbor  above  and  its  neighbor  below  by  what 
might  be  called  a  rope  of  fibers. 

3.  This  string  of  ganglia,  held  together  by  a  pecul- 
iar rope,  seems  to  hang  like  a  loop,  with  the  back- 
bone as  a  pole  in  its  center. 

4.  The  nerve  cells  of  the  different  ganglia  send 
fibers  off  to   definite   parts  of   the  body:  to  heart, 
stomach,  liver,  and  elsewhere.     At   these  different 
places  the  fibers  are  so  closely  woven  together  that 
they  form  a  network  called  a  plexus ;  small  ganglia 
are  interlaced  with  each  plexus. 

5.  One  very  important  plexus  is  near  the  heart, 
another  near  the  stomach. 

On  the  street  the  other  day  my  four-year-old  friend 
suddenly  bent  his  head  forward  and  thumped  it  into  the 
stomach  of  an  elderly  man  who  came  that  way.  The  boy 
was  surprised  when  the  old  man  bent  himself  double  and 
almost  groaned  aloud,  for  the  child  himself  knew  nothing 


290  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

about  the  plexus  near  the  stomach,  neither  did  he  know 
that  wherever  fibers  are  thickest,  there  it  hurts  most  to 
be  punched.  The  boy's  brother,  fourteen  years  old,  under- 
stood the  situation  perfectly.  He  thought  the  man  really 
needed  to  groan,  "  because,"  as  he  said,  "  you  see  it  hurts 
awfully  to  be  thumped  in  your  stomach  like  that." 

But  all  this  has  to  do  with  the  outside  of  the  stomach. 
Now  recall  Dr.  Cannon's  experiments  with  cats.  Think 
of  the  close  connection  which  he  discovered  between  the 
state  of  the  mind  and  the  work  the  stomach  is  willing  to 
do,  and  do"  not  forget  that  it  is  through  nerves  alone  that 
the  mind  can  ever  affect  the  stomach  in  this  way  or  that. 

A  friend  of  mine  says  that  many  a  time  when  he 
was  young  he  himself  had  the  cat's  experience.  He  was 
quick-tempered,  nervous,  and  excitable,  and  he  found 
that  if  he  lost  his  temper  while  he  was  eating,  or  if  he 
even  became  unpleasantly  excited,  he  immediately  felt 
as  if  all  the  food  in  his  stomach  had  turned  itself  into 
a  weight  of  lead  that  could  not  be  dislodged. 

Sometimes,  however,  his  stomach  did  go  so  far  in  its 
rebellion  as  to  force  up  everything  he  had  swallowed. 
Various  lessons  of  this  sort  at  different  times  taught  the 
boy  one  of  the  great  lessons  of  his  life,  —  that  he  must 
keep  calm  and  serene  at  meal  time. 

From  these  and  other  observations  and  experiments 
scientists  find  four  good  reasons  why  happiness  helps  not 
the  stomach  alone,  but  all  parts  of  the  body  too : 


HELP  THROUGH  HAPPINESS  291 

1.  A  happy  state  of  mind  affects  the  ganglia  in 
such  a  way  that  they  compel  the  small  blood  vessels 
to  expand.    This  allows  fresh  blood  to  flow  easily 
through  them. 

2.  A  happy  state  of  mind  affects  the  nerves  that 
control    the    lungs.    They    inhale    more    air.     This 
means  that  they  get  more  oxygen,  too ;    and  this, 
in  turn,  means  that  the  blood  is  better  purified  by 
the  lungs. 

3.  A  happy  state  of  mind  affects  the  ganglia  that 
control  the  heart,  making  it  beat  faster;  this  forces 
fresh  blood   rapidly    through    the    expanded    blood 
vessels.    And  rapidly  moving  blood  gives  rich  nour- 
ishment to  nerve  cell  and  muscle,  making  it  possible 
for  them  to  do  good,  energetic  work. 

4.  A  happy  state  of  mind  affects  the  ganglia  of 
the  stomach  so  promptly  that  its  churning  is  better 
done ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  more   gastric  juice 
pours  in  to  help  digestion  along. 

A  cheerful  schoolroom,  lively  games,  pleasant  friends, 
becoming  clothes,  travel  by  steam  and  by  rail  —  any- 
thing that  makes  us  happy  without  doing  us  harm  is  a 
help  to  the  body  through  the  sympathetic  ganglia. 

We  now  see  why  it  is  that  we  learn  our  lessons  faster, 
recite  them  better,  and  are  quicker-wittecl  in  every  direc- 
tion when  we  are  joyful  than  when  we  are  joyless  and 
hopeless.  It  is  simply  because  in  the  former  state  every 


292  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

organ  in  the  body  is  doing  its  best  work,  and  because  the 
brain  gets  the  benefit  of  it  all  through  an  improved  blood 
supply.  The  serious  fact  is  that  the  human  machine  is 
so  delicately  balanced  that  when  even  the  smallest  part  of 
it  fails,  the  whole  may  hitch  and  halt.  Wear  out  the  fire 
box  or  the  boiler  of  an  engine,  and  no  matter  how  per- 
fect the  rest  of  the  machine  may  be,  it  will  run  no  better 
than  a  worn-out  affair  that  is  rusted  in  every  joint. 

It  matters  not  where  the  hitch  in  the  human  machine 
begins  —  whether  with  too  much  food,  too  little  mastica- 
tion, too  little  exercise,  too  much  worry,  excitement, 
anger,  fear  or  torment  of  any  mental  sort ;  for,  wherever 
the  start  may  be,  the  feelings  are  sure  to  be  pulled  into 
the  reckoning  ere  long,  and  after  that  the  trouble  is 
increased  tenfold. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  we  have  within  our  own  reach 
methods  for  securing  good  service  from  our  sympa- 
thetic ganglia: 

1.  By    avoiding,    as    if    it    were    a   poison,    each 
thought    and   emotion   that   saps    the   vigor  of  the 
ganglia:     hatred,     malice,     envy,    jealousy,     anger, 
despair,  discouragement,  anxiety,  worry,  fear. 

2.  By  helping  the  ganglia  through  love,  joy,  hope, 
courage,  faith,  trust,  belief  in  others,  belief  in  our- 
selves, good  cheer. 

3.  By  obeying  all  the  health  laws  that  we  know 
anything  about. 


CHAPTER  XL 

PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL,  OR  FRIEND  AND  FOE 
OF  THE  NERVE  CELL1 

Scientists  have  known  for  a  long  time  that  the  red 
blood  corpuscle  is  the  oxygen  carrier  of  the  body;  but 
for  years  they  came  to  no  conclusion  about  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  busy  companion,  the  white  blood  corpuscle, 
the  phagocyte,2  "  the  devourer,"  as  his  name  means  in 
Greek.  The  mystery  vanished,  however,  when  Professor 
MetchnikofT,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  Paris,  turned  his 
attention, to  the  subject. 

He  took  a  healthy  frog,  carefully  pricked  some  cholera 
microbes  under  his  skin,  and  with  his  microscope  watched 
the  fate  which  befell  them.  The  whole  affair  was  easy 
to  follow,  for  white  phagocytes  now  flocked  to  the  spot 
from  all  sides ;  they  crowded  close ;  each  seemed  to 
choose  its  special  victim,  and,  drawing  closer  yet,  laid 
itself  up  beside  the  enemy,  stretched  itself  into  a  new, 
curved  shape,  and  little  by  little  wrapped  itself  about  the 
doomed  microbe. 

1  These  chapters  are  taken  from  Control  of  Body  and  Mind. 

2  All  phagocytes  are  white  blood  corpuscles,  but  there  are  also  white  blood 
corpuscles  that  are  not  phagocytes. 

293 


2  94 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 


The  phagocyte  is  really  nothing  more  than  a  tiny 
round  speck  of  living,  active,  independent  substance 
called  protoplasm,  but  it  captures  its  victims  relent- 
lessly. In  vain  the  microbes  tried  to  flee;  their  captors 
had  surrounded  them  completely  and  held  them  firmly 
within  their  own  bodies  long  enough  to  digest  them. 
Instead  of  killing  an  enemy  outright  and  throwing  him 
aside,  they  rid  themselves  of  him 
by  swallowing  him  whole.  Quickly 
hurrying  to  another,  each  phagocyte 
repeated  the  process,  disposing  of 
one  microbe  after  another  and  grow- 
ing larger  with  each  captive. 

When  intruding  microbes  were 
small  enough  for  it  Professor 
Metchnikoff  saw  the  phagocyte 

SHAPES  WHICH  ONE  PHAGO-  &       J 

CYTE  TOOK  WITHIN  A  "  swallow  them  in  shoals  as  a  whale 
FEW  SECONDS  swallows  herring."  Whereas,  if  they 

were  too  large  for  one  to  manage  alone,  several  phago- 
cytes would  surround  the  same  microbe  and  digest  him 
in  partnership. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  a 
frog  never  dies  of  cholera.  The  reason  is  clear  to  us; 
frog  phagocytes  are  so  vigorous  that  they  conquer 
cholera  microbes  before  they  have  a  chance  to  manu- 
facture their  deadly  toxin  and  give  cholera  to  the 
frogs.  In  the  same  direction  Professor  Metchnikoff 


PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL  295 

next  discovered  that  pigeons  cannot  be  made  to  take 
tuberculosis,  for,  here  again,  phagocytes  seized  the 
tubercle  bacilli  as  fast  as  they  entered  the  body  and 
devoured  them  before  any  harm  was  done. 

The  work  which  the  phagocyte  does  for  the  body  is 
so  valuable  that  we  easily  talk  about  this  free-swimming, 
single  cell  as  if  it  were  a  many-celled  warrior  with  a 
mind  of  its  own.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  and  even 
though  they  do  behave  like  friend  and  foe,  there  is  no 
real  enmity  between  the  phagocyte  and  the  microbe. 

These  small  protectors  of  the  body  move  from  place 
to  place  in  independent  fashion.  They  spend  most  of 
their  time  in  the  blood;  and  in  it  they  not  only  travel 
with  the  current  but  they  also  ignore  that  current 
entirely,  and,  like  the  salmon,  swim  up  stream  as  well 
as  down  stream,  as  occasion  may  seem  to  require.  At  a 
moment's  notice,  also,  they  leave  the  blood  and  pass 
through  any  bodily  tissue  without  the  slightest  difficulty. 

Through  Professor  MetchnikofT's  experiments  and 
others  since  then,  facts  have  been  learned  which  help 
human  beings.  If  our  phagocytes  are  strong  enough 
to  destroy  disease  microbes  for  us,  we  shall  be  saved 
from  certain  serious  diseases.  If,  on  the  contrary,  our 
phagocytes  are  feeble,  or  if  microbes  enter  our  body  in 
such  swarms  that  there  are  not  phagocytes  enough  to 
fight  them  successfully,  the  enemy  will  be  victorious,  the 
phagocyte  will  be  defeated,  and  we  shall  be  the  victims 


296 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


of  any  special  epidemic  that  is  traveling  the  rounds. 
Put  two  men  into  a  town  where  cholera  is  working 
havoc;  let  one  have  more  vigorous  phagocytes  than  the 
other,  and  he  will  be  the  one  more  likely  to  escape  with 
his  life.  Let  measles  or  pink  eye,  whooping  cough  or 
influenza,  break  out  in  school,  and  those  children  with 
the  most  numerous  and  active  phagocytes  will  suffer  the 


'-'••'••:/  ''••"•' 

"**«        S*    °'         ,'           '>• 
f     r'      /' 

[£.-.-^.\-.  v  ,         /:  0-.      , 

C^  %  •*-^: 

'.;;  ../•  '/;'  /  •       .  -   ••'.''.:.'•.  ;••-':'..   /^i     •  '      '  - 

*-;  -^^f^ 

''••'  ''•   '••  ;  •.'•'     :..^--.  •  :":g   ••  i  :     '^-:      :;   ;•. 

-  '•-',,]  I  ;  .^£>Q^'  '  .  .  H    :  /•  °  ./•.;:: 

,"'  *  *",  V'CSCw*" 
j%\  -''j'^vfCj; 

INFLUENZA  MICROBES  UNCONQUERED  BY  PHAGOCYTES 

On  the  left,  as  they  are  found  in  the  sputum  of  some  colds ;  on  the  right, 
as  they  are  raised  in  the  laboratory 

least.  Let  tubercle  bacilli  be  thick  in  the  dust  \ve 
breathe,  and  those  of  us  who  own  the  best  bodyguard 
in  the  line  of  well-developed  phagocytes  will  be  least 
likely  to  take  the  disease  and  suffer  from  tuberculosis 
afterwards. 

The  same  law  holds  true  even  for  less  serious  illness. 
When  some  one  says,  "  I  am  so  sensitive,  I  catch  cold 


PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL  297 

at  the  least  exposure,"  it  is  quite  as  if  he  said,  "  My  phag- 
ocytes are  wonderfully  weak  and  inefficient,  they  are  van- 
quished by  all  the  microbes  of  influenza  that  enter  my 
body."  Another  person  says,  "  I  never  seem  to  take  cold," 
and  it  is  as  if  he  said,  "  My  phagocytes  are  such  valiant 
warriors  that  they  destroy  every  intruding  microbe." 

Yet  the  phagocyte  is  not  merely  an  athletic  police- 
man, a  valiant  soldier ;  he  is  also  a  scavenger  and  a 
street  cleaner.  With  all  his  occupation  he  is  never  idle. 
Here  and  there  through  the  body  he  hurries,  always 
trying  to  remove  waste  matter  and  intruding  microbes. 

You  cut  your  hand,  or  you  run  a  sliver  into  your  fin- 
ger, and  from  every  side  phagocytes  hasten  to  clear 
away  the  rubbish  and  to  attack  the  microbes.  If  they 
can  kill  these  mischief-makers  as  fast  as  they  drift  in, 
the  wound  will  heal  fast ;  if,  instead,  the  phagocyte  is 
too  weak  to  slay  the  enemy,  there  will  be  a  painful  sore, 
slow  to  heal. 

Hospitals  are  full  of  patients  who  prove  this  differ- 
ence in  their  own  bodies.  One  man  has  a  wound  that 
heals  at  once,  and  he  goes  home  happy;  another  man 
stays  in  the  hospital  for  weeks  waiting  for  his  wound 
to  heal.  The  difference  in  recovery  rests  with  the  phago- 
cytes of  the  two  men.  "  Matter,"  or  "  pus,"  from  a  wound 
is  the  host  of  microbes  and  phagocytes  that  have  been 
slain  in  the  struggle.  They  are  being  washed  away  by 
fluids  from  the  wound. 


CHAPTER  XLI 

PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL  (CONTINUED) 

The  warfare  within  our  bodies  is  a  silent  one.  We  hear 
no  sign  of  any  conflict ;  nevertheless,  throughout  our  lives 
the  strife  goes  on  ceaselessly,  and  it  makes  all  the  differ- 
ence between  life  and  death  to  us  whether  or  not  our 
standing  army  of  phagocytes  is  in  good  fighting  trim. 

In  view  of  this  fact  our  daily  command  to  ourselves 
should  be :  Protect  the  phagocytes  from  harm.  Every 
law  of  health  is,  indeed,  so  truly  a  law  for  their  protec- 
tion that  he  who  follows  health  laws  most  strictly  will  at 
the  same  time  be  doing  the  most  for  his  bodyguard.  It 
is  necessary,  however,  that  we  should  know  even  more 
than  this.  Multitudes  of  cases  prove  the  need. 

In  Glasgow,  in  1848,  a  little  more  knowledge  might 
have  saved  hundreds  of  lives.  A  great  cholera  epidemic 
swept  through  the  city,  and  it  attracted  so  much  atten- 
tion that  Dr.  Adams  studied  it  for  the  sake  of  telling  the 
people  how  to  protect  themselves.  He  kept  a  keen  eye 
on  the  death  rate  of  his  cholera  patients,  and  discovered 
that  those  who  went  without  alcohol  had  a  vastly  better 
chance  to  recover  than  those  who  used  it.  Or,  to  put  the 

facts  more  exactly,  when  those  who  used  alcohol  caught 

298 


PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL  299 

the  disease  ninety-one  out  of  every  hundred  died;  whereas, 
when  those  who  did  not  use  alcohol  had  the  cholera,  only 
nineteen  out  of  each  hundred  died. 

Knowing  what  we  do  about  the  effect  of  alcohol  on 
living  tissue,  and  knowing  also  about  the  discoveries 
which  Professor  Metchnikoff  made  in  connection  with 
cholera  microbes  and  phagocytes,  we  understand  at  once 
the  condition  of  affairs  in  Glasgow.  Those  men  and 
women  who  did  not  use  alcohol  owned  phagocytes  that 
were  vigorous  enough  to  conquer  the  attacking  cholera 
microbes ;  those  other  men  and  women  who  used  alco- 
hol had  weakened  their  phagocytes  to  such  an  extent 
that  when  invading  enemies  came  they  were  not  strong 
enough  to  slay  them. 

Dr.  Delearde  had  two  cases  which  illustrate  precisely 
this  point. 

A  man  and  a  boy  were  bitten  on  the  same  day  by  the 
same  mad  dog.  The  boy,  thirteen  years  old,  was  bitten 
on  the  head  and  face,  which  are  the  very  worst  places 
for  such  wounds.  The  man  was  bitten  on  the  hand 
alone  —  a  much  less  serious  matter.  Both  victims  were 
taken  to  Dr.  Delearde,  and  he  gave  each  his  most  care- 
ful treatment ;  but  the  man,  who  should  have  recovered, 
died  of  hydrophobia,  and  the  boy,  who  might  have  been 
expected  to  die,  recovered.  The  only  difference  in  the 
two  cases  seemed  to  be  that  the  man  used  alcohol  and 
that  the  boy  did  not  use  it. 


300  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

This  led  Dr.  Delearde  to  look  into  the  subject  still 
farther.  As  usual,  when  experiments  have  to  be  made, 
he  took  two  sets  of  rabbits ;  to  one  set  he  gave  a  little 
alcohol  each  day ;  the  other  set  received  no  alcohol.  He 
then  vaccinated  both  sets  to  try  to  prevent  them  all 
from  taking  hydrophobia.  After  they  were  supposed  to 
be  proof  against  the  disease,  he  put  the  poison  of  hydro- 
phobia into  their  blood  and  was  not  surprised  at  results. 
Those  rabbits  that  had  had  alcohol  took  the  disease  as 
easily  as  if  they  had  not  been  protected  against  it ; 
whereas  the  poison  had  no  effect  whatever  on  the  rab- 
bits that  had  not  had  alcohol.  Evidently  their  phago- 
cytes had  served  them  well. 

In  looking  back  to  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Good 
Health  we  now  understand  one  reason  why  Bum  and 
Tipsy  suffered  so  much  more  than  Nig  and  Topsy 
when  the  epidemic  of  dog  illness  raged  in  Worcester. 
Alcohol  had  weakened  their  phagocytes  to  such  an 
extent  that  disease  microbes  had  the  upper  hand  from 
the  start. 

Just  here  it  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to  an  impor- 
tant fact.  When  death  comes  from  disease  microbes  it  is 
not  the  microbe  itself,  but  the  poison  which  the  microbe 
gives  off  while  it  multiplies,  that  does  the  mischief.  Each 
disease  microbe  has  its  own  special  variety  of  poison  — 
of  toxin  —  and  fevers  of  one  sort  or  another  simply  show 
that  a  fierce  fight  is  going  on  between  microbes  that  are 


PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL         301 

producing  poison  and  phagocytes  that  are  devouring  the 
poison  producers.1 

Over  and  over  again,  in  many  microbe  diseases,  death 
comes  from  the  fact  that  one  set  of  nerve  cells  or  another 
has  been  poisoned  or  paralyzed  by  the  toxin  which  the 
microbes  have  produced.  It  is  here,  then,  that  the  con- 
nection between  phagocyte  and  nerve  cell  steps  in.  By 
destroying  the  microbe  which  makes  poison,  the  phago- 
cyte protects  the  nerve  cell.  Very  often,  therefore,  the 
battle  between  phagocyte  and  microbe  is  a  battle  in  be- 
half of  the  safety  of  the  nerve  cell  from  the  poison  pro- 
duced by  the  microbe. 

This  is  particularly  true  in  that  dread  disease,  pneu- 
monia ;  and  sometimes  a  doctor  helps  science  by  follow- 
ing the  record  of  the  battle.  From  time  to  time  he 
draws  a  drop  of  blood  from  the  arm  of  his  patient  and 
examines  it  under  the  microscope  for  phagocytes.  He 
knows  that  according  as  the  number  of  these  protectors 
increases  or  >  decreases,  so  also  is  there  prospect  of  life 
or  death  for  the  sufferer  himself.  The  normal  count  is 
from  five  thousand  to  seven  thousand  in  each  cubic 
millimeter,  and  it  takes  sixty-one  cubic  millimeters  to 
make  one  drop  of  water. 

When,  by  his  examination  of  the  blood,  the  doctor 
finds  that  the  number  of  phagocytes  is  mounting  steadily 

1  Pasteur's  experiments  which  prove  this  are  given  in  Chapter  XXII  of  Town 
and  City. 


302  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

upward  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand,  from  twenty  to 
fifty  and  even  to  seventy  thousand,  he  takes  courage.  He 
knows  that  "the  body  is  rallying* its  forces  to  battle  with 
invading  hosts  of  microbes,  and  that,  if  the  fight  can  be 
kept  up  long  enough,  the  victory  will  be  won." 

Dr.  Moorhead  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  was  talking 
once  about  the  treatment  of  pneumonia,  and  he  said : 
"  If  I  can  get  a  patient  who  has  had  no  alcohol  I  have 
very  seldom  any  doubt  as  to  the  result  of  that  attack  of 
pneumonia,  and  I  find  that  it  is  never  necessary  to  give 
alcohol  in  those  cases  at  all ;  in  fact,  patients  do  better 
without  it."  There  are  doctors  who  would  not  agree 
with  Dr.  Moorhead  in  this  matter.  Nevertheless  it  is 
true  that,  even  as  a  medicine,  all  our  best  doctors,  in  our 
best  hospitals  and  out  of  them,  are  in  these  later  years 
giving  vastly  less  alcohol  to  those  who  are  ill  than  they 
gave  in  former  times.  They  are  understanding  better 
and  better  the  nature  of  the  effect  which  it  has  on  the 
life  forces  of  the  body. 

Scientists  claim  that  phagocytes  are  being  manufac- 
tured constantly  in  certain  lymph  tissues,  and  that  when 
a  special  need  comes,  when  a  wound  is  made  in  the  flesh 
or  when  disease  microbes  multiply  in  the  blood,  then  the 
tissues  send  out  new  regiments  of  soldiers  by  thousands 
and  by  millions.  And  it  appears  that,  from  the  start,  even 
the  youngest  among  these  soldiers  are  ready  to  risk  their 
lives  in  immediate  service. 


PHAGOCYTE  AND  ALCOHOL         303 

Nevertheless,  although  a  young  and  healthy  phagocyte 
may  be  so  vigorous  as  to  be  like  a  Samson  among  his 
microbe  enemies,  still,  as  we  have  seen  already,  there  is  a 
way  to  defeat  and  destroy  him.  Let  one  of  these  young 
phagocytes  be  launched  into  blood  that  has  alcohol  in  it 
and  what  is  the  result  ?  Does  he  gain  courage  for  the 
fray?  Does  he  scurry  off  to  the  battle  ground  with  the 
greater  strength? 

Quite  the  contrary;  his  fate  is  now  sealed,  for  that 
alcohol  overcomes  him  as  a  subtle  power  more  deadly 
than  any  microbe.  It  is  a  toxin  which  will  dull  a  phago- 
cyte or  paralyze  him  utterly,  according  as  there  is  more 
or  less  of  it  in  the  blood. 

A  trace  of  alcohol  does  not  rob  phagocytes  of  all  power. 
They  may  still  be  strong  enough  to  reach  the  scene  of 
battle ;  they  may  even  wrestle  with  a  microbe  on  the  way 
there ;  but  instead  of  being  strong  enough  to  conquer, 
they  are  now  weak  enough  to  be  conquered.  When  that 
condition  exists  disease  microbes  find  themselves  free 
to  carry  on  their  business  of  toxin  manufacture  without 
interruption. 

From  beer  and  hard  cider  all  the  way  through  to  gin 
and  brandy  each  drink  harms  the  phagocyte  with  its  alco- 
hol, and  the  more  alcohol  the  drink  holds  the  more  is  the 
phagocyte  damaged  by  it.  The  table  which  is  given  on 
the  next  page  shows  what  per  cent  of  alcohol  is  found  in 
various  drinks  which  are  in  common  use. 


304  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

ALCOHOLIC  PERCENTAGE  OF  COMMON  DRINKS 

Beer 3-5 

Hard  cider , 4-5 

Ale 7-8 

Wines  of  different  kinds 7—20 

Champagnes 11-18 

Brandy 3°~55 

Whisky 50 

In  view  of  this  power  of  alcohol,  we  realize  that  when  a 
man  raises  his  glass  cheerfully  to  his  lips  and  drinks  to 
the  health  of  his  king  or  his  friend,  he  drinks  in  truth  to 
the  success  of  disease  microbes  in  his  own  body,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  drinks  to  the  death  of  his  own  most 
faithful  bodyguard. 

If  the  owner  of  a  castle  had  drugged  his  watchmen  on 
the  towers,  had  bound  his  soldiers  hand  and  foot,  had  killed 
his  bodyguard,  would  he  have  the  right  to  be  surprised 
when  he  found  his  worst  enemy  within  the  gates  ?  If 
that  enemy  robbed  him,  or  beat  him  cruelly,  or  killed  him 
through  slow  torture,  would  any  one  be  to  blame  but  the 
owner  of  the  castle  himself? 

Protect  your  phagocytes  from  harm  and  they  will  pro- 
tect you  in  time  of  need.  Weaken  them  through  the  use 
of  alcohol  or  any  other  poison,  or  through  neglect  of  the 
laws  of  health,  and  you  will  be  as  a  man  who  has  drugged 
his  watchmen  on  the  towers,  bound  his  soldiers  hand  and 
foot,  and  killed  his  bodyguard.  He  who  has  done  all  this 
is  sure  to  suffer  when  the  enemy  comes. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  LIST 

HOWELL,  W.  H.,  A  Text-Book  of  Physiology  for  Medical  Students  and  Physi- 
cians. 1907. 

HOUGH,  THEODORE,  and  SEDGWICK,  W.  T.,  The  Human  Mechanism.    1906. 

LANDOIS,  L.,  and  STERLING,  WILLIAM,  A  Text-Book  of  Human  Physiology. 
1904. 

ALLEN,  W.  H.,  Civics  and  Health. 

CANNON,  W.  B.,  The  Movements  of  the  Stomach  studied  by  Means  of  the 

Rontgen  Rays.    Article  in  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology.     Vol.  I. 
CANNON,  W.  B.,  The  Movements  of  the  Intestines  studied  by  Means  of  the 

Rontgen  Rays.   Article  in  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology.  Vol.  VI. 
CHITTENDEN,  R.  H.,  The  Nutrition  of  Man.    1907. 
CUTTEN,  G.  B.,  The  Psychology  of  Alcoholism.    1907. 
GULICK,  L.  H.,  Physical  Education  by  Muscular  Exercise.    1904. 
GULICK,  L.  H.,  The  Efficient  Life.    1907. 
HARVEY,  WILLIAM,  Anatomical   Disquisition  on  the  Motion   of  the   Heart 

and  Blood  in  Animals.    Written  in  1628.    Translated  from  the  Latin  by 

Robert  Willis. 
HORSLEY,  SIR  VICTOR,  and  STURGE,  MARY  D.,  Alcohol  and  the  Human 

Body.    1907. 

JEWETT,  FRANCES  GULICK,  Town  and  City.    1906. 
JEWETT,  FRANCES  GULICK,  Control  of  Body  and  Mind.    1908. 
RAVENHILL,  ALICE,  Lessons  in  Practical  Hygiene.    1907. 
SARGENT,  DUDLEY  A.,  Health,  Strength,  and  Power.    1904. 
SCHMIDT,  FERDINAND  AUGUST,  Unser  Korper.    1903. 


305 


QUESTIONS 


CHAPTER  I 

How  do  some  cities  get  the  records  of  a  man  ?  Which  gives  the  better 
record,  a  photograph  or  the  measurements  of  certain  bones  ?  After  what 
age  are  bones  set  for  life  ?  Why  does  a  nurse  support  the  head  and 
back  of  a  young  baby  ?  How  do  Indian  mothers  secure  flat  heads  for 
their  children  ?  Give  two  laws  of  bone  growth.  Describe  the  appearance 
of  the  boy  who  failed  to  get  work.  Describe  the  boy  who  secured  work. 
In  what  ways  does  the  body  tell  facts  about  us  ?  How  much  responsi- 
bility have  we  for  the  bodies  we  live  in  ? 

CHAPTER  II 

Were  you  satisfied  or  dissatisfied  with  the  examination  of  your  own 
body  ?  What  points  did  you  decide  to  change  ?  Mention  some  objec- 
tionable positions  to  take  when  seated.  Tell  why  each  is  objectionable. 
What  difference  is  there  between  sitting  with  a  twist  in  the  back  once  in 
a  while  and  taking  the  same  position  most  of  the  time  ?  What  must  be 
guarded  against  ?  Was  it  the  older  or  the  younger  girls  in  the  German 
school  that  had  most  trouble  from  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine  ?  Why 
was  this  ?  Mention  various  positions  that  bring  curves  to  the  spine. 
What  objection  is  there  to  these  curves  ?  Give  four  laws  of  prevention. 

CHAPTER  III 

Mention  the  case  of  the  strong,  bent  back,  and  tell  how  it  was  secured. 
Why  do  certain  bicycle  riders  have  bent  backs  ?  What  law  explains  the 

307 


3C>8  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

strong  but  bent  back  ?  How  did  a  traveling  man  lower  his  shoulder  ? 
Describe  the  backs  of  two  oarsmen,  and  tell  why  one  is  curved  and  the 
other  straight  even  when  they  walk.  Why  does  the  hand  of  a  piano 
player  stay  open  even  when  he  is  not  playing  ?  Why  do  the  fingers  of 
an  oarsman  curl  up  even  when  he  is  not  rowing  ?  Mention  such  occupa- 
tions as  you  think  may  change  the  shape  of  the  body.  Why  is  the  body 
thus  changed  ?  Give  the  second  great  law  about  muscles  stretching  and 
contracting.  How  may  a  man  who  works  in  a  bent  position  save  him- 
self from  the  evil  effects  of  his  work  ?  Give  such  examples  as  you  can 
call  to  mind. 

CHAPTER  IV 

What  did  the  doctor  tell  his  audience  they  could  do  with  their  bodies  ? 
How  did  the  student  show  what  the  muscles  can  do  ?  How  did  his  back 
and  arms  look  before  he  forced  the  muscles  into  action  ?  What  was  it 
that  raised  bunches  here  and  there  a  moment  later  ?  How  could  muscles 
be  pulled  up  so  short  and  hard  without  the  use  of  apparatus  ?  What  did 
the  man  pull  against  ?  What  did  the  lecturer  say  about  the  way  to  de- 
velop muscles  without  apparatus  ?  How  often  and  for  how  long  a  time 
should  the  exercises  be  taken  ?  How  much  change  did  the  student  say 
he  had  made  in  the  size  of  his  own  arm  within  one  month  ?  What  should 
be  done  to  make  a  close  examination  of  the  structure  of  a  muscle  ?  WThat 
is  a  muscle  fiber  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  size  and  the  shape  of 
different  muscles  ?  How  is  each  formed  ?  What  is  the  sarcolemma  ? 
Where  is  the  connective  tissue  ?  What  lies  within  the  connective  tissue  ? 
Of  what  use  are  the  fine  threads  of  connective  tissues  that  stretch  away 
from  the  ends  of  muscle  fibers  ?  What  do  they  help  form  ?  How  do  you 
explain  the  difference  between  tough  and  tender  meat  ?  Why  is  a  spring 
chicken  tender  ?  How  can  you  toughen  your  own  muscle  ?  Describe 
voluntary  muscles.  What  is  the  work  of  involuntary  muscles  ?  How 
much  do  the  muscles  as  a  whole  weigh  ?  Can  you  mention  the  name  of 
any  muscle  ? 


QUESTIONS  309 

CHAPTER  V 

In  what  way  do  bones  help  muscles  ?  How  do  muscles  and  tendons 
help  bones  ?  Describe  the  outside  of  a  fresh  bone.  Describe  the  inside 
of  a  fresh  bone.  What  is  the  advantage  in  having  bones  made  in  this 
way  ?  What  would  a  magnifying  glass  show  ?  What  two  things  can  a 
chemist  do  to  a  bone  ?  What  good  thing  does  a  cook  get  from  a  bone  ? 
What  are  the  two  important  substances  which  together  form  bone  ? 
Why  should  aged  people  be  careful  not  to  fall  ?  Why  do  their  bones 
break  more  easily  than  those  of  children  ?  Why  are  young  bones 
pliable  ?  If,  being  young,  you  wish  to  change  the  shape  of  your  chest, 
how  will  you  do  it  ?  Describe  the  shape  of  different  bones.  How  many 
are  there  in  a  human  being  ?  What  is  a  vertebra  ?  How  many  vertebrae 
are  there  ?  How  are  they  held  together  ?  Explain  how  vertebrae  may 
become  wedge-shaped.  What  effect  does  hard  work  have  on  the  bones  ? 

'  t- 

CHAPTER  VI 

Describe  the  small  foot  of  a  Chinese  lady.  How  was  it  secured  ? 
How  useful  was  it  ?  How  many  bones  are  there  in  the  foot?  How  are 
they  joined  to  each  other  ?  In  order  to  have  the  foot  in  thoroughly 
good  condition  and  as  useful  as  possible,  how  much  freedom  should  the 
muscles,  bones,  and  tendons  have  ?  Which  is  most  desirable,  the  flat  or 
the  arched  foot  ?  How  can  you  decide  which  kind  you  have  ?  If  you 
have  a  tendency  to  flat  feet,  how  can  you  help  yourself  ?  Why  should 
feet  be  uncramped  ?  What  explains  the  ruined  shape  of  many  feet  ?  In 
buying  shoes,  what  points  should  be  kept  in  mind  ?  Why  are  tight  gar- 
ters objectionable  ? 

CHAPTER  VII 

What  fastens  a  muscle  to  a  bone  ?  Just  how  does  a  muscle  help 
move  a  bone  ?  To  what  bones  are  those  tendons  fastened  which  be- 
long to  the  muscle  which  forms  the  calf  of  the  leg?  Where  is  the 


310  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

contracting  done,  in  muscle  or  tendon?  What  sometimes  occurs  to 
the  bone  when  a  tendon  is  badly  strained  ?  What  connection  is  there 
between  joints  and  the  direction  which  bones  shall  take  ?  Describe  the 
joints  which  lie  between  the  skull  and  the  spine.  Where  do  we  find 
important  ball-and-socket  joints  ?  What  sort  of  joint  is  there  at  the 
knee  ?  What  is  the  difference  between  tendon  and  ligament  ?  What  is 
it  that  holds  bones  to  each  other  ?  Name  two  kinds  of  joints.  Where 
do  you  find  examples  of  each  ? 

CHAPTER  VIII 

In  what  ways  do  boys  in  some  cities  get  their  exercise  ?  Of  what 
advantage  is  this  exercise  ?  How  does  it  happen  that  more  attention  is 
paid  to  the  health  of  children  to-day  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world  ?  What  do  the  best  athletic  trainers  of  the  country  say  about 
the  use  of  alcohol  and  tobacco  by  their  men  ?  What  part  of  the  body 
does  tobacco  harm  the  most  ?  What  is  the  usual  record,  on  the  athletic 
field  and  in  the  class  room,  of  those  who  habitually  use  cigarettes  ?  Why 
has  the  American  army  often  refused  men  who  wished  to  join  it  as 
soldiers  ?  Why  should  men  with  weak  hearts  keep  out  of  the  army  ? 
What  did  Mr.  McBride  say  about  the  use  of  tobacco  and  alcohol  by 
football  players  at  Yale  ?  What  does  Mr.  Edwards  say  for  the  Prince- 
ton team  ?  What  does  Mr.  Stagg  say  ?  What  does  Mr.  Gianinido  say  for 
the  New  York  Athletic  Club  ?  Why  did  Nansen  take  no  alcohol  with  him 
when  he  left  the  Fram  ? 

CHAPTER  IX 

Tell  how  you  may  get  the  standard  of  your  heartbeat  when  standing. 
How  can  you  increase  your  heart  beat  ?  By  what  tests  can  you  prove 
that  your  pulse  shows  what  the  rate  of  your  heartbeat  is  ?  What  dif- 
ference do  you  find  in  your  own  case  between  your  normal  pulse  and 
your  pulse  after  a  short,  quick  run  ?  What  other  facts  have  you  learned 
about  your  pulse  ?  Is  it  by  the  exercise  of  large  or  small  muscles  that  you 


QUESTIONS  311 

increase  your  heartbeat  the  most?  Why  does  a  doctor  feel  the  pulse 
of  his  patient?  What  mistake  do  frail  women  sometimes  make  about 
the  use  of  the  heart  ?  What  is  the  opposite  mistake  which  a  bicycle  rider 
sometimes  makes  ?  What  is  the  heart  and  where  does  it  lie  ?  How 
large  is  the  heart  and  when  does  it  work  ?  How  did  the  heart  of  the 
tennis  player  show  that  it  was  overtaxed  ?  How  should  the  man  have 
begun  his  playing  in  the  spring  ?  Mention  some  way  by  which  muscles 
and  heart  and  breathing  apparatus  may  all  be  trained  at  the  same  time. 
Describe  the  work  of  the  doctor  as  he  trained  the  man  who  fainted  easily. 
What  objection  is  there  to  an  overstretched  heart  muscle  ?  Think  of 
some  advantages  that  come  from  having  a  heart  well  trained  for  its  work. 
What  difference  is  there  in  the  size  of  the  heart  of  wild  and  caged 
animals  ?  How  may  you  train  your  own  heart  ? 

CHAPTER  X 

To  what  two  men  do  we  owe  the  largest  debt  for  our  knowledge 
about  the  heart  and  the  circulation  of  the  blood  ?  When  did  Galen  live  ? 
Who  was  William  Harvey  ?  Where  was  he  lecturing  in  1 6 1 6  ?  What 
did  he  notice  about  the  flow  of  blood  from  different  wounds  ?  What  was 
Harvey's  first  great  discovery  ?  Give  some  facts  that  led  him  to  this 
discovery.  How  many  quarts  of  blood  are  there  in  the  body  ?  How 
much  blood  does  the  heart  send  out  each  time  it  contracts  ?  How  often 
does  it  contract  each  minute  ?  Where  are  the  pockets  in  the  veins  ? 
Which  are  deeper  in  the  body,  arteries  or  veins  ?  Describe  the  experi- 
ment with  the  bandage  above  the  elbow.  What  does  it  prove  ?  What 
was  Harvey's  second  discovery  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  two  halves 
of  the  heart  ?  What  connection  does  each  side  have  with  pure  and 
impure  blood  ? 

CHAPTER  XI 

Describe  the  experiment  which  shows  how  long  it  takes  blood  to  make 
the  circuit  of  the  body.  How  long  does  this  take  for  a  man  ?  for  a 


312  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

child  of  fourteen  ?  Describe  the  circuit  of  the  blood  from  the  veins  back 
to  the  veins.  How  does  the  blood  get  from  the  arteries  to  the  veins  for 
its  return  journey  to  the  heart  ?  What  does  the  microscope  show  in  the 
tail  of  a  tadpole  ?  When  you  cut  yourself  and  blood  flows  what  have  you 
actually  done  ?  What  does  capillary  mean  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the 
amount  of  blood  which  the  blood  vessels  might  hold  ?  In  what  way  is 
warm  salt  water  sometimes  useful  in  the  blood  vessels  ?  What  connection 
is  there  between  exercise  and  the  amount  of  blood  which  is  sent  to  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  body  ?  Give  this  law  of  exercise. 

CHAPTER  XII 

What  is  the  object  in  using  a  rough  towel  after  the  morning  bath  ? 
Describe  the  way  to  get  a  drop  of  blood  for  examination.  Why  do  you 
put  the  needle  into  the  flame  before  using  it  ?  In  getting  the  blood  what 
do  you  do  to  the  capillaries  ?  What  is  the  color  of  the  blood  ?  How 
do  you  know  that  blood  hardens  soon  after  it  leaves  the  body  ?  What 
happens  to  the  bit  of  jelly  after  it  has  been  left  undisturbed  for  about  half 
an  hour  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  value  of  blood  while  a  wound 
heals  ?  What  does  a  drop  of  blood  show  when  it  is  examined  through  a 
microscope  ?  What  three  things  are  mixed  together  to  form  blood  ? 
Tell  all  you  can  about  red  corpuscles.  Describe  white  corpuscles.  What 
is  the  liquid  part  of  blood  called  ?  Describe  it.  What  does  a  chemist 
have  to  say  about  blood  ? 

CHAPTER  XIII 

What  can  you  say  about  the  importance  of  getting  the  blood  into 
close  contact  with  muscle  and  gland  ?  Describe  an  experiment  with 
tumblers  which  proves  that  certain  substances  can  pass  through  a  moist 
animal  membrane.  What  have  men  discovered  about  the  power  of  cer- 
tain gases  to  pass  through  animal  membrane  ?  How  will  you  apply  .these 
experiments  to  the  work  done  by  the  liquids  and  the  gases  within  the 
body  ?  What  is  lymph  like  and  where  is  it  found  ?  Which  gas  passes 


QUESTIONS  313 

from  the  tissues  of  the  body  into  the  lymph  ?  How  does  this  gas  reach 
the  red  corpuscles  ?  How  does  oxygen  from  the  red  corpuscles  get  to 
the  tissues  ?  Which  two  gases  change  places  in  the  red  corpuscles  ?  Tell 
what  you  can  about  blood  in  the  arteries.  Describe  blood  in  the  veins. 
Describe  lymph.  Describe  the  origin  of  lymphatic  tubes.  What  is  the 
difference  between  the  system  of  blood  vessels  and  the  system  of 
lymphatic  tubes  ?  What  does  lymph  look  like  ?  What  does  plasma  re- 
ceive from  lymph  ?  What  does  lymph  receive  from  plasma  ?  Of  what 
use  are  pocket  valves  in  the  lining  of  the  lymph  tubes  ?  How  does 
vigorous  exercise  help  the  body  through  the  lymph  ?  Why  is  it  an 
advantage  to  the  tissues  to  be  surrounded  by  fresh  lymph? 

CHAPTER  XIV 

When  the  nose  or  any  other  part  of  the  body  is  red,  what  do  we 
understand  about  the  capillaries  just  there  ?  What  objection  is  there  to 
having  blood  move  slowly  through  the  capillaries  ?  Mention  two  advan- 
tages that  are  connected  with  fast-moving  blood.  Why  should  the  walls 
of  the  blood  vessels  be  kept  healthy,  vigorous,  and  elastic  ?  What  did 
doctors  formerly  think  about  the  connection  between  alcohol  and 
circulation  ?  After  a  man  takes  alcohol  does  his  heart  beat  faster  or 
slower  ?  What  is  the  sphygmograph  for  ?  What  does  the  sphygmograph 
show  about  the  power  of  the  heart  before  and  after  alcohol  has  been 
used  ?  It  beats  faster,  to  be  sure,  but  what  about  the  force  which  it  puts 
into  each  stroke  ?  Does  this  prove  that  the  heart  receives  strength  or  is 
robbed  of  strength  by  the  alcohol  ?  What  is  the  natural  condition  of  the 
blood  tubes  ?  Are  they  elastic  or  nonelastic  ?  What  effect  does  alcohol 
have  on  them  ?  Why  is  it  harmful  to  have  slightly  paralyzed  blood  tubes  ? 
What  effect  has  alcohol  on  the  heart  ?  Describe  what  the  result  is  when 
both  blood  tubes  and  heart  are  thus  weakened.  What  finally  happens 
to  the  walls  of  the  tubes  ?  What  effect  does  this  have  on  the  exchanges 
between  plasma  and  lymph  ?  Why  does  the  body  suffer  when  the 


314  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

exchanges  are  made  slowly  ?  Describe  the  condition  of  the  heart  after 
it  has  been  weakened  by  alcohol.  What  objection  is  there  to  fat  among 
the  fibers  of  the  heart  ?  Why  do  surgeons  dread  to  operate  on  a  man 
who  uses  alcohol  ? 

CHAPTER  XV 

If  you  were  ever  thoroughly  out  of  breath  describe  the  sensations  you 
had.  While  you  ran  what  was  happening  to  the  substance  of  the  living 
tissues  of  the  body  ?  What  gas  was  produced  by  the  tissues  as  they 
worked  ?  What  gas  did  they  need  in  order  to  carry  on  their  work  ? 
Through  what  stream  did  the  tissues  get  rid  of  their  carbon  dioxid  and 
receive  their  oxygen  ?  Why  did  the  blood  stream  need  to  flow  fast  ?  Give 
five  steps  that  are  connected  with  breathlessness.  What  did  people 
formerly  think  was  the  cause  of  breathlessness  ?  What  do  people  think 
about  it  now  ?  What  can  be  done  to  strengthen  the  heart  ?  When  does 
carbon  dioxid  form  fastest  ?  When  do  we  use  the  most  oxygen  ?  When 
does  a  man  give  off  the  least  carbon  dioxid  and  call  for  the  least  oxygen  ? 
Why  is  the  heart  overtaxed  when  we  run  hard  ?  What  does  a  trained 
athlete  learn  about  keeping  the  balance  of  the  gases  in  his  blood  ?  When 
is  he  willing  to  be  breathless  ?  During  exercise,  which  muscles  call  for 
the  most  oxygen  in  the  least  time  ?  Which  two  organs  of  the  body  need 
to  be  trained  in  their  relation  to  each  other  ? 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Mention  some  tests  which  show  that  the  size  of  the  lungs  can  be  in- 
creased. How  many  lungs  have  we  ?  Where  are  they  ?  What  is  an  air 
sac  ?  When  is  blood  called  impure  ?  When  is  blood  pure  ?  What  is  the 
condition  of  the  blood  when  it  enters  the  lungs  ?  when  it  leaves  the  lungs  ? 
In  what  way  are  the  lungs  a  storehouse  ?  What  exchange  goes  on  in  the 
air  sacs  ?  Where  is  the  oxygen  taken  by  the  red  corpuscles  ?  Is  it  for 
the  benefit  of  the  lungs  or  of  the  tissues  that  we  breathe  ?  How  long  does 
it  take  blood  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  body  ?  Describe  the  way  oxygen 


QUESTIONS  315 

and  carbon  dioxid  change  places  in  the  lungs.  Why  are  large  lungs  an 
advantage  to  the  body  ?  How  may  their  size  be  increased  ?  What  are 
the  best  kinds  of  exercise  for  the  lungs  ?  What  danger  comes  from  in- 
active air  sacs  ?  Where  does  tuberculosis  most  often  begin  ?  Why  should 
breathing  be  done  through  the  nose  and  not  through  the  mouth  ?  Why 
should  air  be  well  cleaned  before  it  enters  the  air  sacs  ? 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Who  was  Dr.  Koch  ?  What  was  his  great  discovery  ?  What  is  the 
annual  death  rate  from  tuberculosis  in  the  United  States  ?  in  the  world  ? 
Give  as  many  facts  as  you  can  about  the  tubercle  bacillus.  In  what  places 
do  we  find  the  most  consumption?  Describe  "  Lung  Block."  How  does 
one  case  of  consumption  lead  to  others  ?  Where  do  the  microbes  stay  ? 
Ho,w  do  they  reach  the  air  ?  What  objection  is  there  to  dry  sweeping 
and  to  a  feather  duster  ?  How  do  tubercle  bacilli  reach  the  lungs  ?  Give 
their  history  after  that.  Why  is  sputum  dangerous  ?  How  may  parents 
give  consumption  to  children  ?  So  far  as  tubercle  bacilli  are  concerned 
what  special  advantage  is  there  in  having  vigorous  lungs  ? 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

Describe  the  fight  against  tuberculosis  in  Maryland.  Mention  two 
ways  by  means  of  which  tuberculosis  may  be  banished.  Give  the  triple 
motto  of  the  campaign.  Mention  two  ways  in  which  tubercle  bacilli  get 
into  the  air  we  breathe.  Why  do  cities  have  laws  against  spitting  ? 
Give  three  rules  of  prevention.  In  what  way  is  tuberculosis  like  a  fire 
in  the  lumberyard  ?  What  four  things  are  needed  to  cure  consumption  ? 
What  are  the  five  tuberculosis  "  D's  "  ?  What  is  the  golden  rule  of  the 
antituberculosis  leagues  ?  What  can  you  say  about  using  medicine  for 
consumption  ?  How  can  a  house  be  kept  supplied  with  fresh  air  ?  What 
advantage  has  night  air  ?  In  sleeping  in  cold,  fresh  air,  what  must  be 
done  about  keeping  warm  ?  How  do  city  hospitals  manage  to  give  their 


316  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

patients  enough  fresh  air  ?    Tell  about  Dr.  Fisher  and  others  who  have 
slept  out  of  doors.    Why  are  open-air  classes  being  started  for  children  ? 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Give  the  chemist's  reason  for  objecting  to  alcoholic  drinks.  Who  was 
Dr.  Warren  ?  How  many  samples  of  adulterated  liquors  did  he  find 
among  the  six  hundred  which  he  examined  ?  Mention  some  of  the 
poisons  used  in  adulterating  the  liquors.  What  did  the  manager  of  the 
St.  Louis  Wholesale  Liquor  Association  say  about  adulterations  ?  Give 
two  reasons  why  alcoholic  drinks  are  adulterated.  What  must  the  drugs 
do  for  the  drink  ?  Which  is  the  more  dangerous,  pure  alcoholic  drinks 
or  adulterated  drinks  ?  Why  ?  Give  the  case  of  the  two  men  who  drank 
whisky.  What  did  Dr.  Cox  discover  about  the  whisky  ?  What  did  Mr. 
Redding  say  about  port  wine  ?  How  is  fruit  juice  keep  sweet  for  years  ? 
If  it  is  unboiled  what  occurs  ?  If  it  begins  to  ferment  before  it  is  bot- 
tled what  is  produced  in  it  ?  Into  what  two  things  do  ferment  microbes 
change  sugar  ?  What  two  substances  are  found  in  all  wine,  cider,  beer, 
and  similar  drinks  ?  What  connection  is  there  between  sugar,  ferment, 
and  alcohol  ?  How  is  beer  made  ?  Why  does  a  bottle  of  champagne 
pop  when  opened.  WThat  is  the  great  objection  to  patent  medicines  ? 
In  which  medicines  is  there  a  large  per  cent  of  alcohol  ?  What  does  the 
United  States  law  about  patent  medicines  demand  ?  How  can  we  tell 
whether  a  bottle  contains  poisons  or  not  ? 

CHAPTER  XX 

What  men  were  used  as  a  sort  of  laboratory  for  food  experiments  ? 
Give  the  age  of  the  youngest  and  the  oldest  soldiers  ?  In  what  town 
were  the  tests  made  ?  What  special  treatment  did  the  men  receive  ?  Did 
they  eat  more  or  less  than  other  men  ?  What  was  the  result  ?  What 
did  the  tests  prove  about  the  need  a  man  has  for  meat  ?  Who  should 
eat  most  and  who  should  eat  least  ?  Mention  two  things  that  food  does 


QUESTIONS  317 

for  the  body.  Mention  the  five  food  substances.  Whence  do  plants  get 
their  nourishment  ?  Whence  do  animals  get  theirs  ?  Which  kind  of  food 
contains  the  most  proteid  ?  What  two  kinds  of  food  does  the  word  "  car- 
bohydrate "  include  ?  Is  carbohydrate  most  abundant  in  the  food  we  get 
from  plants  or  in  that  which  we  get  from  animals  ?  Which  food  substance 
does  the  body  use  in  building  up  tissue  ?  Which  does  it  use  as  fuel  for 
energy  ?  Which  for  warmth  ?  When  too  much  carbohydrate  is  eaten 
what  becomes  of  the  surplus  ?  When  too  much  proteid  is  eaten  what 
becomes  of  the  surplus  ?  When  does  a  person  need  the  most  proteid  and 
the  most  carbohydrate  ?  If  we  do  not  eat  meat  what  articles  should  we 
use  instead,  to  supply  ourselves  with  proteid  ?  Plan  some  meals  where 
the  proteid  is  supplied  by  something  else  than  meat.  (You  will  need  to 
study  the  table  for  this.)  Why  are  creamed  potatoes  more  nourishing 
than  potatoes  boiled  in  water?  Why  is  macaroni  and  cheese  a  most 
nourishing  dish  ?  Why  would  it  never  do  to  take  our  nourishment  in 
condensed  tablets  ? 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Where  did  Dr.  Cannon  conduct  his  experiments  on  cats  ?  Why  were 
cats  chosen  ?  Why  was  bismuth  mixed  with  the  cats'  food  ?  What  did 
Dr.  Cannon  wish  to  learn  about  the  stomach  ?  Why  did  he  use  the 
X-rays  ?  Describe  the  waves  of  motion.  Describe  the  changing  shape 
of  the  stomach.  How  soon  after  eating  did  the  food  begin  to  leave  the 
stomach  ?  •  What  is  the  name  of  the  muscle  that  guards  the  outlet  ? 
Describe  the  uneven  action  of  the  pylorus  after  the  cat  swallowed  the 
tablet  of  bismuth  and  starch  paste.  What  did  this  experiment  prove? 
Why  is  it  a  disadvantage  to  have  food  detained  too  long  in  the  stomach  ? 
What  discovery  did  Dr.  Cannon  make  in  connection  with  the  cat  that 
lost  its  temper  ?  What  emotions  have  the  power  to  stop  all  action  of  the 
stomach  ?  What  effect  does  a  happy  mind  have  on  the  work  which  the 
stomach  does  ? 


318  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

CHAPTER  XXII 

What  special  disease  became  a  scourge  in  Pittsburg  ?  How  many 
died  of  typhoid  fever  in  1907  ?  How  did  other  people  suffer  from  the 
disease  even  when  they  did  not  die  ?  How  long  did  the  scourge  last  ? 
What  caused  it  ?  How  could  it  have  been  prevented  ?  Why  was  it  not 
prevented  ?  Tell  what  you  can  about  the  typhoid  microbe  itself.  How 
does  it  get  into  the  body  ?  What  do  towns  on  the  banks  of  the  Alle- 
gheny and  Monongahela  rivers  do  with  their  sewage?  Where  does 
their  drinking  water  come  from  ?  Why  was  Pittsburg  water  worst  of 
all  ?  What  one  thing  is  it  that  makes  water  unfit  to  drink  ?  Describe 
the  change  that  came  in  the  Pittsburg  death  rate  in  1908.  What  ex- 
plained the  change  ?  Describe  the  Pittsburg  sand  filters.  What  do  they 
do  to  water  ?  Where  does  your  own  drinking  water  come  from  ?  Why 
is  river  water  generally  unsafe  to  drink  ?  Why  is  water  from  a  lake  un- 
safe ?  When  is  well  water  unsafe  ?  How  can  sewage  get  into  a  well  ? 
What  do  cities  do  for  water  ?  Tell  about  London  water.  Why  is  rain 
water  safe  to  drink?  Describe  the  typhoid  epidemic  in  Springfield. 
Describe  the  difference  between  clean  milk  and  unclean  milk.  How  do 
microbes  get  into  milk  ?  Why  should  milk  be  clean,  fresh,  and  cold  ?  In 
what  sort  of  milk  do  microbes  multiply  fastest  ?  How  can  unclean  and 
unsafe  milk  be  made  safe  to  use  ?  Mention  two  ways  in  which  harm 
may  come  through  microbes  in  the  milk. 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

What  is  food  in  the  stomach  called  when  it  is  soft  enough  to  pass 
through  the  pylorus?  How  long  is  the  small  intestine?  How  thin  is 
chyme  when  it  passes  through  the  pylorus  ?  What  makes  it  grow  thinner 
yet  in  the  food  tube  ?  What  is  chyme  called  after  it  enters  the  food 
tube  ?  Describe  the  action  of  the  food  tube  as  it  was  studied  by  means 
of  the  X-ray.  How  rapidly  did  the  peristaltic  action  take  place  ?  How 
fast  did  the  chyle  move  through  the  tube  ?  Would  rapid  movement  of 


QUESTIONS  319 

the  chyle  be  an  advantage  or  a  disadvantage  to  the  body  ?  Where  are 
the  villi  ?  What  are  they  for  ?  Why  is  chyle  squeezed  up  against  them 
so  often  ?  If  food  is  not  absorbed  by  the  villi  what  becomes  of  it  ? 
From  the  time  food  is  cooked  and  eaten  until  its  journey  is  ended  what 
is  all  the  preparation  for  ?  How  many  villi  are  there  ?  What  is  each  one 
like  ?  What  do  they  do  ?  What  is  the  great  object  of  peristaltic  action  ? 
What  happens  when  the  food  is  not  thoroughly  prepared  for  the  villi  ? 
Where,  then,  does  food  meet  its  final  test  ?  What  happens  to  food  if  it 
is  kept  too  long  either  in  the  pantry  or  in  the  food  tube  ?  Give  some 
reasons  why  a  person  may  be  only  half  nourished  although  he  swallows 
a  good  deal  of  food.  Describe  the  progress  of  a  mouthful  of  food  from 
the  time  it  is  put  into  the  mouth  until  it  reaches  the  villi. 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

Tell  what  you  can  about  the  effect  of  tempting  a  dog  with  meat  ? 
How  many  sets  of  salivary  glands  are  there?  What  two  things  make 
saliva  flow  ?  Have  you  tested  yourself  in  both  these  directions  ?  Why 
does  a  sensible  man  with  a  weak  stomach  eat  dry  toast  rather  than  deli- 
cate custard  ?  How  does  saliva  affect  starch  ?  What  does  it  do  to  certain 
kinds  of  sugar  that  are  hard  to  digest  ?  Give  two  reasons  why  we  chew 
food  thoroughly.  (First,  to  soften  it ;  second,  to  mix  it  with  saliva,  which 
will  change  it  and  prepare  it  for  its  next  course  of  treatment.)  Why 
should  babies,  and  older  persons  also,  take  their  milk  in  sips  and  not 
in  a  pouring  stream  ?  What  can  gastric  juice  do  to  raw  meat  ?  Which 
needs  more  chewing,  raw  or  cooked  meat  ?  Describe  the  gastric  glands. 
Describe  the  tests  with  dogs  which  proved  certain  points  about  the 
flow  of  gastric  juice.  What  should  always  be  done  after  tempting  a  dog 
with  food  ?  Under  what  circumstances  does  gastric  juice  flow  fastest 
and  longest  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  advantages  of  hunger  ?  Give 
two  reasons  for  cooking  food.  What  does  cooking  do  to  starch  cells  ? 
Why  should  oatmeal  and  other  cereals  be  thoroughly  cooked  ? 


320  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

CHAPTER  XXV 

What  is  the  name  of  the  largest  gland  of  the  body  ?  Where  does  it 
lie  ?  How  much  does  it  weigh  ?  What  does  the  liver  do  with  the  liquid 
food  which  it  receives  from  the  villi  ?  What  is  glycogen  for  ?  What  does 
the  liver  do  with  venous  blood  ?  What  is  bile  good  for  ?  Mention  the  three 
occupations  of  the  liver.  What  does  a  doctor  sometimes  advise  a  man  to 
do  when  he  has  liver  trouble  ?  Why  is  a  piece  of  raw  liver  so  bloody  ? 
Why  is  alcohol  especially  harmful  to  the  liver  ?  How  large  does  a  liver 
sometimes  become  through  the  use  of  alcohol  ?  What  objection  is  there 
to  fat  in  the  liver  ?  Where  are  the  kidneys  ?  What  do  they  look  like  ? 
What  do  they  do  ?  If  they  are  out  of  order  and  cannot  clear  the  blood 
of  its  proteid  waste  what  becomes  of  this  waste  ?  What  diseases  follow  ? 
What  do  insurance  companies  think  of  a  man  whose  kidneys  are  out  of 
order  ?  What  do  scientists  say  about  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  kidneys  ? 
Why  is  beer  especially  harmful  ?  (Because,  being  a  weak  drink,  it  is 
usually  taken  in  large  quantities.) 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

Describe  the  woman  who  laces.  What  harm  is  she  doing  to  her 
liver  ?  Why  will  her  complexion  probably  suffer  ?  What  does  lacing  do 
to  the  stomach  ?  How  does  lacing  affect  the  food  tube  ?  What  is  the 
diaphragm  ?  Describe  its  location.  What  work  does  it  do  ?  What  organs 
lie  below  it  ?  What  is  above  it  ?  What  tubes  pass  through  the  diaphragm  ? 
What  work  is  done  by  the  organs  above  the  diaphragm  ?  What  is  done 
by  the  organs  below  the  diaphragm  ?  In  what  way  is  the  diaphragm 
connected  with  breathing  ?  When  you  contract  your  diaphragm  is  air 
drawn  in  or  expelled  from  the  lungs  ?  When  the  diaphragm  contracts 
what  does  it  do  to  the  organs  below  it  ?  What  organs  are  helped  by  the 
exercise  which  this  regular  action  of  the  diaphragm  gives  them  ?  How 
does  lacing  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  diaphragm  ?  What  effect  does 
lacing  have  on  the  lungs  and  on  the  heart  ?  For  best  health  how  loose 


QUESTIONS  321 

should  the  clothes  be  ?    Why  should  weights   be  kept  from  dragging 
down  on  the  abdominal  wall  ? 

CHAPTER  XXVII 

Where  and  what  is  Okushiri  ?  What  was  the  occupation  of  the 
inhabitants?  What  was  their  condition  in  1884?  How  did  they  solace 
themselves  ?  What  kind  of  man  was  the  governor  and  what  did  he 
advise  his  people  to  do  ?  Tell  what  you  can  about  the  formal  statement 
which  some  of  them  drew  up.  What  was  the  object  of  this  statement  ? 
Who  were  asked  to  sign  it  ?  When  was  this  done  ?  Mention  some  of 
the  things  to  which  they  pledged  themselves.  How  were  the  fines  to  be 
spent  ?  How  long  was  the  contract  to  be  in  force  ?  How  many  signed 
the  contract  ?  At  the  end  of  the  five  years  what  was  the  condition  of 
the  Okushiri  islanders  ?  How  were  they  then  regarded  by  neighboring 
people  ?  What  did  they  then  decide  to  do  for  the  next  five  years  ?  If 
you  care  to  do  so  find  out  the  price  of  one  glass  of  beer  and  also  the 
price  of  various  articles  of  food,  and  decide  for  yourself  how  much  a 
man  can  buy  during  one  year  with  what  he  might  have  spent  for  three 
glasses  of  beer  a  day  during  that  year. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

What  report  was  posted  on  the  important  buildings  of  Paris  in  1902  ? 
By  whom  was  the  report  made  ?  Mention  some  of  the  statements  which 
it  contained.  Why  are  different  nations  protesting  against  alcohol  ?  How 
do  anti-alcohol  leagues  do  their  work  ?  Tell  something  of  what  is  being 
done  in  Germany.  Who  are  the  most  prominent  men  in  this  German 
movement  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  royal  family  of  Sweden  ? 
What  has  Japan  done  in  the  line  of  prohibition?  In  1908,  in  the 
United  States,  how  many  people  were  living  under  anti-alcohol  laws 
which  they  themselves  had  made  ?  What  danger  threatened  Indian 
Territory  in  1905  ?  How  long  had  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes  been 


322  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

protected  from  alcohol  by  the  United  States  government?  What  did 
Indian  Territory  dread  if  it  should  become  a  state  ?  Who  were  inter- 
ested in  keeping  alcohol  out?  Who  were  anxious  to  let  alcohol  into 
the  new  state  ?  Tell  what  you  can  about  the  activity  of  each  side.  How 
long  did  the  agitation  last?  After  Indian  Territory  was  joined  to 
Oklahoma  what  was  the  new  state  called  ?  Give  in  your  own  words  a 
part  of  the  temperance  law  which  now  protects  Oklahoma  from  alcohol. 

CHAPTER  XXIX 

What  were  scientists  trying  to  learn  about  the  heat  of  the  body  in 
1775?  Describe  the  way  they  tested  their  bodies  in  heated  rooms. 
How  hot  was  the  air?  What  happened  to  beaf steak,  eggs,  water,  and 
watch  chains  that  were  in  the  same  room  ?  How  did  the  men  feel  ? 
What  saved  them  from  being  cooked  ?  When  were  the  sweat  glands 
most  active  ?  How  many  sweat  glands  is  a  human  being  supposed  to 
have?  Describe  the  epidermis.  Describe  the  dermis  and  tell  what  is 
in  it.  Describe  perspiration.  How  does  it  keep  the  skin  cool?  What 
things  are  mixed  with  perspiration  on  an  unwashed  skin  ?  From  what 
part  does  new  skin  grow  to  cover  a  wound  ?  When  a  wound  is  too  large 
to  be  covered  by  skin  that  grows  from  the  edges  what  is  done  to  supply 
a  man  with  new  skin  ?  Wrhen  is  perspiration  called  "  insensible  "  ?  What 
is  sensible  perspiration?  When  a  man  is  heated  what  happens  to  the 
capillaries?  When  a  heated  man  sits  in  a  draft  what  do  the  capillaries 
do  ?  Where  is  the  blood  sent  from  these  capillaries  ?  What  is  generally 
the  first  symptom  of  a  cold  ?  Describe  the  behavior  of  white  corpuscles 
at  such  times.  When  white  corpuscles  are  inactive  what  about  the 
microbes  ?  Why  is  a  man  who  has  a  cold  more  liable  to  take  other 
diseases  ?  If  you  feel  a  cold  coming  on  what  should  you  do  to  check  it  ? 
In  what  ways  may  we  take  cold  by  chilling  the  blood  ?  Think  of  ways 
by  means  of  which  the  body  may  be  so  helped  every  day  as  to  be  better 
able  to  resist  disease. 


QUESTIONS  323 

CHAPTER  XXX 

What  can  you  say  about  the  heat  of  the  body  in  different  countries  ? 
What  is  the  normal  temperature  of  a  human  being  ?  Which  animals 
are  warm-blooded  ?  What  is  the  difference  between  warm-blooded  and 
cold-blooded  creatures  ?  Why  does  a  room  grow  warm  when  several 
people  are  present  ?  Why  do  we  wear  more  clothes  at  one  time  than 
at  another  ?  How  does  exercise  help  keep  the  body  warm  ?  What  con- 
nection is  there  between  food  and  the  power  of  the  body  to  heat  itself 
by  exercise  ?  When  much  exercise  is  taken  what  stored-up  fuel  is  drawn 
upon  ?  What  may  a  fat  man  do  to  change  his  appearance  ?  How  can 
you  explain  the  fact  that  hard  exercise  has  little  effect  on  the  inside 
temperature  of  the  body  ?  Since  the  body  can  cool  itself  when  it  is  too 
warm,  what  is  the  danger  ?  Give  three  rules  for  preventing  the  escape 
of  heat  when  the  body  needs  it.  Are  we  warmed  by  keeping  the  cold 
out  or  by  keeping  the  heat  of  the  body  in  ?  Why  do  we  choose  flannel 
for  winter  and  cotton  for  summer  wear  ?  Give  four  rules  that  help  the 
body  to  adjust  itself  to  heat  and  cold.  What  is  the  great  work  of  hygiene  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXI 

Give  what  you  can  of  the  Kansas  law  about  the  common  drinking 
cup.  Describe  Professor  Davidson's  experiments  with  pieces  of  glass 
that  had  touched  the  lips.  Describe  the  appearance  of  the  cup  used  by 
the  high  school.  What  experiments  were  made  ?  Why  do  we  refuse  to 
put  into  our  mouths  things  that  have  been  used  by  others  ?  Describe  the 
eye  epidemic  in  Germany.  How  may  eye  trouble  be  passed  from  one  to 
another  in  a  schoolhouse  ?  Give  a  sure  way  by  means  of  which  one  may 
avoid  taking  a  contagious  eye  disease.  Why  should  pencils  never  be 
moistened  by  the  lips  ?  Why  do  we  object  to  flies  ?  In  what  way  may 
flies  carry  disease  to  a  house  ?  Where  do  flies  multiply  ?  Give  reasons 
why  garbage,  refuse,  and  decaying  waste  should  never  be  allowed  to 


324  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 

accumulate.  What  connection  is  there  between  the  barnyard  and  flies  ? 
In  the  Spanish-American  war  which  killed  the  largest  number  of  soldiers, 
microbes  or  bullets  ?  What  did  the  doctors  say  about  it  ?  Describe  Dr. 
Lord's  experiment  with  flies.  What  scourge  came  to  Philadelphia  in 
1795?  What  has  science  proved  about  the  connection  between  yellow 
fever  and  mosquitoes  ?  What  about  malaria  and  the  mosquito  ?  What 
does  a  careful  housewife  do  ?  What  does  a  careful  city  do  ?  Why  are  we 
all  so  anxious  to  be  clean  and  to  live  in  clean  surroundings  ?  How  are 
mosquitoes  exterminated  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXII 

How  did  a  certain  New  York  boy  start  an  epidemic  ?  What  harm 
was  there  in  the  skin  he  distributed  ?  When  we  say  "  There  is  an  epi- 
demic "  what  do  we  mean  ?  What  did  smallpox  do  in  Ponape  ?  Who 
was  Dr.  Jenner  ?  What  was  his  great  discovery  ?  Why  are  we  now  so 
safe  from  smallpox  ?  What  did  New  York  City  do  to  save  itself  in  1901  ? 
Why  do  epidemics  spread  fastest  in  crowded  places?  When  a  person 
has  diphtheria,  what  must  be  done  at  once  ?  Is  antitoxin  given  to  save 
a  child  after  he  has  diphtheria  or  to  protect  him  from  it  when  he  has 
been  exposed  to  it  ?  What  difference  has  antitoxin  made  in  the  death 
rate  from  diphtheria  ?  When  a  person  has  been  bitten  by  a  mad  dog, 
what  should  be  done  immediately  ?  Why  is  delay  dangerous  ?  Review 
the  points  about  prevention  that  have  been  given  in  the  last  two  chapters. 
What  two  things  does  the  health  of  the  body  demand  of  us  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXIII 

Who  was  Professor  Kraepelin  ?  What  did  he  wish  to  do  ?  What  do 
some  people  believe  about  the  helpful  effect  of  wine  and  beer?  With 
whom  did  Professor  Kraepelin  experiment?  Describe  the  tests  in  add- 
ing columns  of  figures.  What  did  these  tests  prove  about  the  use  of 
alcohol  when  one  wishes  to  do  quick,  accurate  work  ?  With  whom  did 


QUESTIONS  325 

Dr.  Aschaffenburg  carry  on  his  experiments  ?  Describe  the  alcohol  habits 
of  the  four  men.  What  did  Dr.  Aschaffenburg  wish  to  find  out  ?  How 
much  alcohol  did  the-  men  take  on  the  days  when  it  was  given  ?  Describe 
the  experiment.  What  did  the  men  themselves  think  about  their  own 
work  when  they  had  used  alcohol  ?  What  did  these  experiments  prove  ? 
What  did  Sweden  wish  to  discover  about  wine  and  beer  ?  What  kind  of 
men  were  selected  for  the  experiment  ?  Describe  the  experiments.  How 
much  alcohol  was  used  ?  What  did  staff  surgeon  Mernetsch  say  about 
these  experiments  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXIV 

Mention  some  ways  in  which  sensations  help  us.  Before  the  micro- 
scope was  invented  what  did  scientists  think  about  nerves  ?  What  does 
the  microscope  show  ?  What  do  nerve  fibers  look  like  ?  Where  are 
they  ?  In  what  ways  do  they  help  us  ?  Describe  the  different  work  of 
the  two  groups.  Mention  different  sets  of  fibers  that  have  been  at  work 
when  a  baby  sees  a  flame  and  puts  his  finger  into  it.  What  does  the 
brain  do  when  the  stimuli  reach  it  ?  Which  are  the  longest  fibers  ?  If 
we  could  separate  the  nerves  from  the  body  and  stiffen  them  up,  what 
would  we  be  able  to  learn  about  the  shape  and  size  of  a  man  ?  If  we 
should  cut  the  figure  open,  where  would  we  find  great  clusters  of  nerves  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXV 

Describe  the  actions  of  the  dog  that  had  lost  the  use  of  the  cerebrum. 
What  happens  to  a  man  when  he  loses  his  entire  cerebrum  ?  What  mental 
activities  are  connected  with  the  cerebrum  ?  Where  is  the  cerebrum 
located  ?  When  the  brain  has  been  preserved  in  alcohol  what  does  it 
look  like  ?  Is  it  one  solid  mass  or  can  it  be  separated  somewhat  ?  where 
are  the  parts  held  together  ?  Give  the  names  of  two  important  divisions 
of  the  brain.  Which  is  the  larger  ?  What  does  it  look  like  ?  Where  is 
the  cerebellum  ?  What  can  you  say  about  the  deep  creases  in  both  the 
cerebrum  and  the  cerebellum  ?  What  good  do  the  creases  do  ?  What  is 


326  THE  BODY  AND   ITS   DEFENSES 

the  color  of  the  outside  of  the  brain  ?  How  thick  is  the  gray  layer  ?  In 
what  way  is  it  useful  ?  What  do  scientists  say  about  injury  to  special 
parts  of  the  gray  layer  ?  What  do  they  say  about  the  close  connection 
between  definite  parts  of  the  brain  and  definite  parts  of  the  body  ?  What 
is  the  gray  layer  called  ?  How  important  is  it  ?  How  is  it  protected  ? 
What  separates  the  brain  from  the  skull  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

In  looking  at  the  tangle  of  fibers  under  the  skin  what  might  we 
imagine  ?  If  we  could  untangle  the  fibers  and  follow  them  from  start  to 
finish,  what  should  we  find  ?  What  is  the  difference  between  large  nerves 
and  small  nerves  ?  Where  are  the  largest  nerves  found  ?  Describe  the 
backbone  and  the  nerves  that  pass  through  it.  How  many  fibers  may 
there  be  in  each  nerve  ?  How  do  fibers  pass  from  one  bundle  to  another  ? 
What  danger  is  there  that  a  fiber  will  lose  its  way  ?  What  points  do  the 
fibers  connect  ?  When  do  fibers  become  useless  ?  Describe  what  would 
have  happened  to  the  burning  baby  if  one  set  of  fibers  or  another  set 
had  been  cut  across.  When  is  an  impulse  sure  to  be  truthful  ?  Describe 
the  case  of  the  soldier  who  had  lost  a  leg.  Let  seven  pupils  give,  one 
after  the  other,  seven  facts  about  the  cells  and  the  fibers  of  the  nervous 
system.  In  what  two  ways  does  a  cluster  of  cell  bodies  resemble  a 
telegraph  station  ?  What  is  the  vital  part  of  a  nerve  cell  ?  How  often 
do  fibers  that  carry  messages  in  opposite  directions  make  mistakes  ? 
How  does  it  happen  that  fibers  never  exchange  messages  ?  Of  what 
is  the  gray  layer  of  the  brain  composed?  What  makes  up  the  white 
part  of  the  brain  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXVII 

What  did  Flourens  discover  about  a  pigeon  with  a  useless  cerebellum  ? 
What  did  these  facts  show  about  the  work  of  the  cerebellum  ?  In  what 
way  does  the  cerebellum  relieve  the  cerebrum  ?  Describe  learning  to 
walk.  Mention  other  daily  acts  that  are  done  at  first  with  conscious 


QUESTIONS  327 

thought  and  end  by  being  done  unconsciously.  What  was  the  college 
freshman  trying  to  do  ?  If  we  are  bent  on  teaching  ourselves  lessons,  at 
what  point  have  we  a  right  to  feel  encouraged  ?  Describe  some  case  in 
which  nerve  cells  are  trained  in  spite  of  our  real  desire,  —  the  expression 
of  the  face  for  example.  How  is  it  that  feeling  can  express  itself  in  the 
face  through  the  muscles  ?  Why  is  it  that  old  faces  betray  their  owners 
more  promptly  than  young  faces  ?  Let  four  students  give  the  four  great 
laws  of  the  nerve  cells. 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

When  a  person  studies  birds,  what  special  senses  does  he  train  ? 
Mention  other  ways  in  which  a  man  may  train  his  eyes  and  his  ears: 
How  do  the  native  Australians  train  their  eyesight  ?  What  connection  is 
there  between  constant  practice  and  training  the  senses  ?  What  about 
close  attention  ?  How  many  parts  are  there  to  the  machinery  which  does 
the  work  for  each  separate  sense  ?  What  are  the  parts  ?  How  much  does 
the  outside  ear  apparatus  know  about  what  is  happening  to  it  ?  When 
stimulus  from  the  eye  apparatus  reaches  the  brain,  what  do  we  say  ? 
What  is  the  receiving  point  for  every  message  from  each  sense  ?  What 
are  men  able  to  tell  about  the  senses  by  examining  the  brain  after  death  ? 
Which  sense  is  most  developed  in  a  bird  ?  Which  in  a  dog  ?  Tell  as 
much  as  you  can  about  Laura  Bridgman,  —  about  her  lack  of  different 
senses  and  about  the  condition  of  her  brain  after  death.  What  three 
lessons  do  we  learn  from  the  study  of  the  senses  ? 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 

What  control  have  you  over  the  beating  of  your  heart  ?  When  is  the 
beating  of  the  heart  important  ?  What  part  of  the  nerve  machinery  has 
charge  of  internal  bodily  affairs  ?  Let  five  students  give  five  important 
facts  about  the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  How  can  the  mind  influence 
the  stomach  ?  What  was  Dr.  Cannon's  discovery  about  the  state  of  a 


328  THE  BODY  AND  ITS   DEFENSES 

cat's  feelings  and  the  work  of  the  cat's  stomach  ?  What  similar  discovery 
did  a  man  make  about  his  own  state  of  mind  and  his  digestion  ?  Let 
fllur  students  mention  four  reasons  why  happiness  helps  all  parts  of  the 
body.  Why  is  it  that  we  do  better  work  with  both  the  mind  and  the 
body  when  we  are  joyful  than  when  we  are  joyless  ?  Give  three  ways  by 
which  we  may  secure  good  service  from  our  ganglia. 

CHAPTER  XL 

What  is  the  phagocyte  ?  What  does  its  name  mean  ?  Describe  the 
experiment  of  cholera  microbes,  the  frog,  and  the  phagocytes.  How  do 
phagocytes  capture  and  destroy  microbes  ?  Why  does  a  frog  never  die  of 
cholera  ?  Why  do  pigeons  never  have  tuberculosis  ?  Describe  the  action 
of  phagocytes  in  the  body.  If  intruding  disease  microbes  are  more 
numerous  or  more  vigorous  than  our  phagocytes,  what  happens  to  us  ? 
If  a  man  or  child  yields  quickly  to  a  disease,  what  does  this  prove  about 
his  phagocytes  ?  If  he  is  able  to  resist  disease,  what  is  it  that  has  saved 
him  ?  What  does  the  phagocyte  do  in  case  we  are  cut  or  wounded  ? 
What  is  pus  ?  What  difference  may  there  be  in  the  healing  of  the 
wounds  of  two  men  in  a  hospital  ? 

CHAPTER  XLI 

What  should  be  our  daily  command  about  phagocytes  ?  What  con- 
nection is  there  between  health  laws  and  the  vigor  of  the  phagocyte  ? 
Speak  of  what  happened  in  Glasgow  in  1848.  How  do  you  explain  the 
connection  between  the  death  rate  and  the  drinking  of  alcohol  ?  Tell 
about  the  boy  and  the  man  bitten  by  the  mad  dog.  What  experiments 
did  Dr.  Delearde  make  on  the  rabbits?  How  did  he  explain  results? 
Why  did  Bum  and  Tipsy  suffer  more  from  the  epidemic  than  Nig  and 
Topsy  ?  Which  does  the  most  harm  in  the  body,  disease  microbes  them- 
selves or  the  toxin  they  produce?  In  what  way  do  phagocytes  protect 
nerve  cells  ?  In  a  case  of  pneumonia,  why  does  a  doctor  take  courage 


QUESTIONS  329 

when  phagocytes  increase  their  numbers  ?  Where  does  he  look  for  the 
phagocytes  ?  What  occurs  when  a  phagocyte  finds  itself  in  blood  that 
holds  a  trace  of  alcohol  ?  When  phagocytes  are  overcome  by  alcolfbl, 
what  is  the  outlook  for  disease  microbes  in  that  body  ?  When  a  man 
drinks  to  the  health  of  his  friend,  to  whose  success  and  to  whose  death 
is  he  really  drinking?  Why  should  we  protect  the  phagocytes  from 
harm  ? 


GLOSSARY 


KEY   TO   PRONUNCIATION 

a    as  in  fate,  senate,  fat,  arm,  all,  ask,  what,  care. 

e      "     mete,  event,  met,  her,  there,  obey. 

ee    "      feet. 

i       "      ice,  idea,  it,  sir,  machi'ne. 

o      "      old,  obey,  not,  move,  wolf,  son,  horse,  work. 

oo    "      food,  foot. 

u      "      use,  unite,  up,  fur,  rule,  pull. 

y      "      fly,  myself,  baby,  myrrh. 

au    "      author. 

aw   "     saw.  ew 

oy    "      boy.  ou 

c    (unmarked)  as  in  call ;      9 

ch  (unmarked)     "      child  ;  qh 

g    (unmarked)     "      go;        g(  = 

ng         as  in  ring.  n(=  ng) 

s(=z)    "      is.  si(=sh) 

th   (unmarked)  as  in  thin  ;  th 

x     (unmarked)     "      vex;    x(— gz) 


as  in  new. 

oi             as  in  boil. 

"      out. 

ow              "     cow. 

"      mice. 

ci  (=  sh)  "     gracious. 

"     chaise; 

«h(=k)    "      school. 

*'      cage. 

"      ink. 

ph(=  f)   as  in  phantom. 

tension;  si  (=  zh)   "      vision, 
then.        ti  (=sh)  "      motion, 
exact. 


Obscure  sounds :  a,  e,  i,  etc.     Silent  letters  are  italicized. 


a  diil'ter  ate,  to  corrupt  by  mixing 
with  inferior  materials. 

al  1 111811 'ta  ry,  pertaining  to  food. 

al  1 m8iifta  ry  canal,  the  food  canal. 

am 'bush,  a  lying  in  wait. 

an  oph'e  les,  mosquitoes  that  carry 
malaria. 

an  t!  tox'm,  a  substance  which  neu- 
tralizes the  action  of  a  toxin  or 
poison. 


aor'ta,  the  great  artery  from  the 

heart. 

ar'ehi  t8et,  one  who  plans  buildings, 
ar'ter  y,  one  of  the  vessels  or  tubes 

which  carry  the  blood  from  the 

heart, 
ath'lete,  one  trained   to  exercises 

of  agility  and  strength, 
at'ro  phy,  wasting  away  from  lack 

of  nourishment. 


331 


332 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


baqil7us,  a  microbe  which  is  the 
cause  of  various  diseases. 

bSv'er  age,  drink  of  any  kind. 

bl'qgps,  a  muscle  having  two  heads ; 
the  term  is  applied  to  a  muscle 
in  the  arm. 

bis'muth  subnitrate,  a  chemical. 

cap'iZ  la  rjf,  one  of  the  fine  vessels 
or  tubes  connecting  the  arteries 
and  veins. 

car'bon  di  ox'id,  carbonic  acid;  a  gas. 

car'ti  lage,  an  elastic  tissue;  gristle. 

Qgr  e  belVum,  a  division  of  the  brain 
situated  at  the  back  of  the  head 
below  the  cerebrum. 

QeVebrum,  the  upper  and  larger 
division  of  the  brain. 

ehyle,  the  contents  of  the  small 
intestine. 

chyme,  food  in  the  form  in  which 
it  passes  out  of  the  stomach. 

QIT  cu  la'tion,  motion  in  a  circle  or 
circuit. 

cjr'cu  la  to  ry,  pertaining  to  circu- 
lation, as  of  the  blood. 

co'came,  a  drug  which  produces 
local  insensibility. 

cdn'cave,  curved  in. 

con  trac'tion,  a  shrinking;  shorten- 
ing. 

cor'pus  cle,  a  minute  particle;  blood 
corpuscles,  —  the  blood  disks 
or  cells. 


cor'tgx,  the  layer  of  gray  matter 
covering  the  surface  of  the 
brain. 

crude,  raw,  not  fitted  for  use  by 
any  artificial  process. 

cu'lSx,  the  common,  harmless  mos- 
quito. 

cur'va  ture,  a  bend  ;  a  curve. 

der'mis,  the  second  layer  or  true 

skin, 
di'a  phra^m,  a  muscle  separating 

the  chest  from  the  abdomen. 

6p  i  der'mis,  the  outer  layer  of  skin, 
e  v&p'o  ra'tion,  conversion  of  a  fluid 

into  vapor. 
6x  peVto  rate,  to  spit. 

giln'gllon  (plural  ganglia),  a  col- 
lection of  nerve  cells. 

gSl'a  tin,  a  substance  made  by  boil- 
ing bones  and  other  animal  tis- 
sues. It  is  used  in  glue  and  as 
a  jelly  for  food. 

glob'ule,  a  little  globe. 

gly'coge'n,  a  substance  found  in 
many  animal  tissues  and  espe- 
cially abundant  in  the  liver. 

gym'nast,  one  skilled  in  athletic 
exercises. 

hi'ber  nate,  to  pass  the  winter  in  a 
torpid  state,  as  some  animals  do. 


GLOSSARY 


333 


hy  dro  pho'bia,  a  disease  caused  by 
the  bite  of  a  mad  dog. 

In  gre'dl  ent,  one  of  the  elements 
of  a  combination,  as  a  drink  or 
medicine. 

in  oc'u  late,  to  introduce  a  disease 
germ  into  the  tissues  for  protec- 
tion from  a  more  severe  form 
of  disease. 

lat'eral,  sidewise. 

league,  persons  united  for  some 
particular  purpose. 

lig'a  ment,  the  tissue  that  connects 
bones. 

lymph,  a  colorless  fluid  in  animal 
bodies. 

lymphat'lc,  a  vessel  which  con- 
veys lymph. 

me"m'brane,   a  thin,  soft  tissue  in 

the  form  of  a  sheet  or  layer 

covering  parts  of  the  body, 
mi'crobe,  a  creature  so  small  that 

it  can  be  seen  only  through  a 

microscope, 
ml'cro  scope,    an    instrument    for 

examining  objects  too  small  for 

the  naked  eye. 
mus'ele,  a  tissue  in  animal  bodies 

whose  contraction  causes  motion, 
mus'eular,   having  well-developed 

muscles;  strong. 


nor'mal,  regular;  natural, 
nutrl'tion,    that  which    nourishes 
or  repairs  the  waste  in  tissues. 

6'plnm,    the    dried   juice    of    the 

poppy ;  a  drug, 
or  g&n'ic,  pertaining  to  objects  that 

have  organs;   hence  pertaining 

to    the    animal    and    vegetable 

worlds, 
ox'yggn,   the   element  of  the  air 

that  supports  life. 

par'alyze,  to  render  helpless. 

parent  mgd'I  cine,  a  prepared 
medicine  the  composition  of 
which  is  patented. 

pSr  I  stal'tlc,  contracting  in  suc- 
cessive circles. 

pig 'ment,  coloring  matter. 

plas'ma,  the  liquid  part  of  the 
blood. 

plebe'ian,  pertaining  to  the  com- 
mon people. 

plSx'us,  a  network. 

Po'nape,  one  of  the  Caroline  Is- 
lands. 

pro'teld,  a  substance  from  which 
living  tissue  is  formed. 

pulse,  the  beating  of  the  heart  as 
felt  in  the  arteries. 

pylo'rus,  the  opening  through 
which  the  contents  of  the 
stomach  pass  into  the  intestine. 


334 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


rfiglmgn'tals,  military  clothing. 

rAytii'mic,  sounds  occurring  regu- 
larly, as  accents  in  poetry  or 
music. 

rlck'gts,  a  disease  of  children,  in 
which  they  are  weak  in  the 
joints. 

ro'tate,  to  revolve ;  to  move  round 
a  center. 

sa'ke,  a  Japanese  fermented  liquor 
made  from  rice. 

sal! cj'l'ic,  the  name  of  an  acid. 

sftl'I  vary,  pertaining  to  saliva. 

siir  co  Igm'ma,  the  covering  of  sep- 
arate muscle  fibers. 

sphyg'mo  graph,  an  instrument 
used  in  determining  the  strength 
of  the  heartbeat. 

spii'tum,  that  which  is  spit  or  raised 
from  the  lungs. 

stegomy'ia,  a  mosquito  that  car- 
ries yellow  fever. 

stim'ulant,  that  which  excites;  a 
medicinal  agent  for  increasing 
vital  activity. 


syw  mgt'ric  al,    well   proportioned 

in  its  parts, 
syr'inge,  an  instrument  like  a  pump, 

drawing  in  and  ejecting  liquids. 

tad'pole,  the  young  of  a  frog. 

ten 'don,  a  bundle  of  fibers  which 
joins  a  muscle  to  a  bone. 

tgnsc'ly,  tightly;  -rigidly. 

tox'in,  poison  produced  in  the 
system. 

tro'phy,  a  memorial  of  victory. 

tii  ber  elf?,  a  small  mass  of  diseased 
matter. 

tu  ber  cu  lo'sls,  a  disease  caused 
by  the  tubercle  bacillus ;  tuber- 
culosis of  the  lungs  is  called  con- 
sumption. 

vein,  a  vessel  which  receives  blood 
from  the  capillaries  and  returns 
it  to  the  heart. 

ver'te  bra,  one  of  the  joints  of  the 
spine. 

vilVus  (plural  villi),  a  minute  ele- 
vation on  the  lining  of  the  small 
intestine. 


INDEX 


Abdomen,  effect  of  lacing  on,  198,  199. 
how  walls  of,  may  be  strengthened, 

202. 

injury  from  weight  of  skirts  on,  204. 
Adams,  Dr.,  298. 
Africa,  212. 
Air  sacs,  where  located,  in. 

relation  of,  to  capillaries,  112. 

when  inactive,  1 14. 
Alcohol,  effect  of,  on  circulation,  98-101 . 

adulteration  of,  136-139. 

examination  of,  136,  138. 

materials   used  in  adulteration  of, 
136.    ' 

why  adulterated,  137. 

effect  of,  on  health,  140. 

ia  homemade  drinks,  140-142. 

in  patent  medicines,  142,  143. 

effect  of,  on  the  liver,  190-192. 

effect  of,  on  kidneys,  193,  194. 

prohibition  of,  by  Okushiri  island- 
ers, 206-209. 

posters  against  use  of,  211. 

German  attitude  in  regard  to,  213. 

protection   against,  in  the   United 
States,  214,  215. 

law  against,  in  Japan,  214. 

fight  against,  by  Oklahoma,  2 1 6, 2 1 7 . 

tests    of,    by    university    students, 
247-249. 

tests  of,  by  Swedish  soldiers,  249. 

legislation  against,  by  railroad  cor- 
porations, 251,  252. 

monster  pledge  against  use  of,  252, 

253- 
use  of,  by  doctors,  302. 


Alcohol,   power  of,  to  weaken  phago 

cytes,  298-304. 
American  army,  refusal  of  candidates 

for,  56. 

Anderson,  Dr.,  145. 
Anopheles,  a  mosquito,  239. 
Anti-alcohol  leagues,  212. 
Antitoxin,  use  of,  in  diphtheria,  and  in 

hydrophobia,  244,  245. 
Aorta,  70. 
Arkansas,  216. 
Arteries,    nature    of   blood   flow  from, 

when  ruptured,  69. 
constricted  by  bandage,  72. 
union  of,  with  veins,  78. 
Athletic  leagues,  object  of,  53. 
Athletics,  for  New  York  boys,  52. 
Auricle,  74. 
Australians,  trained  eyesight  of,  281. 

Baltimore,  reference  to,  127. 
Beer,  how  made,  141. 

effect  of,  on  kidneys,  194. 

expense  of,  to  the  consumer,  210. 
Bile,  where  manufactured,  189. 

work  of,  189. 

Blood,  circulation  of,  as  understood  by 
Harvey,  69,  70. 

amount  of,  in  human  body,  70,  80. 

pure  and  impure,  75. 

rate  of  circulation  of,  76. 

movement  of,  through  capillaries, 

79- 
supply  of,  controlled  by  exercise, 

83,  84. 
to  secure  drop  of,  85. 


335 


336 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


Blood,  characteristics  of,  85,  86. 

composition  of,  87,  88. 

value  of,  to  the  body,  88,  89. 

character  of,  in  arteries,  91. 

character  of,  in  veins,  91. 

effect  of  slow  movement  on  purity 
of,  97. 

circulation  of,  affected  by  alcohol, 
100,  101. 

reason  for  rapid  movement  of,  106. 

color  of,  affected  by  carbon  dioxid, 
107. 

when  pure  and  when  impure,  no. 

treatment  of,  by  the  liver,  188,  189. 
Blood  vessels,  in  connective  tissue,  25. 

capacity  and  elasticity  of,  80,  82. 

when  refilled  with  salted  water,  82. 

surroundings  of,  92. 

exchanges  through  walls  of,  98. 

affected  by  alcohol,  101. 
Body,  shape  of,  influenced  by  exercise, 
14-19. 

training  of,  to  endure,  18. 

changes  in  temperature  of,  231, 232. 
Bones,  measurement  of,  i,  2. 

shaped  by  pressure,  3,  4. 

laws  of  growth  of,  4. 

records  made  by,  7. 

influenced  by  habits  at  school  desk, 
9,  10. 

outside  structure  of,  30,  32. 

internal  structure  of,  32. 

when  treated  with  acid,  32. 

lime  of,  how  secured,  32. 

composition  of,  32. 

condition  of,  during  youth  and  age, 

33- 

when  pliable,  33,  34. 
shapes  of,  34. 

how  made  larger  and  rougher,  36, 
of  the  foot,  40-42. 
Brain,  260. 

description  of,  261-265. 
location  of,  265. 


Breathing,  why  best  through  nose,  1 1 5. 
Breathlessness,  description  of,  104,  105. 

relation  of  muscles  to,  105,  106. 

three  things  which  produce,  106. 

old  notion  about  cause  of,  106. 

relation  of,  to  exercise,  107,  108. 

cause  of,  108. 

how  regulated,  109. 
Bridgman,  Laura,  cortex  of  brain  of,  285. 

Cannon,  Dr.,  154,  155, 157,  160,  175,  290. 
Capillaries,  description  of,  78,  80. 

when  broken  into,  85. 

exchange    of    liquids    and    gases 
through  the  walls  of,  89,  92. 

destruction  of,  by  electricity,  96. 

when  distended,  96,  97. 

in  the  lungs,  in. 

condition  of,  during  exercise,  223. 
Carbohydrate,  its  nature,  150. 

value  of,  to  the  body,  150,  151. 

proportion  of,  in  human  body,  152. 

effect  of  saliva  on,  181,  182. 

disposal  of  surplus  of,  193. 
Carbon  dioxid,  in  lymph,  91.       , 

production  of,  by  exercise,  106. 

amount  of,  given  off  under  differ- 
ing conditions,  107. 

in  arterial  blood,  108. 

expulsion  of,  from  lungs,  1 1 1 . 
Carpenter,  Dr.,  282. 
Cartilage,  3,  12. 

Cats,  study  of,  during  digestion,  1 54- 1 6 1 . 
Cerebellum,  location  of,  262,  263. 

value  of,  274,  275. 
Cerebrum,  effect  on  dog  of  loss  of,  260. 

importance  of,  to  man,  261. 

description  of,  261. 

location  of,  262. 

Chinese  shoe  and  foot  described,  39,  40. 
Chittenden,  Professor,  144,  147,  151. 
Chyle,  where  found,  173. 

treatment  of,  by  food  tube,  175. 

treatment  of,  by  villi,  178,  179. 


INDEX 


337 


Chyme,   passage   of,   through   pylorus, 

157. 

on  leaving  the  stomach,  172. 
Cigarettes,   why  given  up  by  school- 
boys, 54. 

to  investigate  effects  of,  55. 
Circulation  of  blood,  discoveries  about, 

by  Harvey,  69,  70. 
time  required  for,  76. 
effect  of  alcohol  on,  98,  101. 
Clothing,  value  of  flannel  as  opposed 

to  cotton  fabrics  for,  232. 
Cold,  symptoms  of,  223. 
cause  of,  224. 
why  objectionable,  224. 
treatment  of,  224,  225. 
to  prevent  taking,  230. 
Connective  tissue,  where  found,  25. 
relation   of,   to  tough   and  tender 

meat,  26. 
Corpuscles,  under  the  microscope,  86, 

87. 

description  of,  87,  88. 
Corpuscles  (white),  behavior  of,  during 

a  cold,  223,  224. 
Cortex  of  brain/description  of,  264,  265. 

developed  by  use,  283-286. 
Courtney,  C.  E.,  57. 
Cox,  Dr.  Hiram,  138. 
Culex,  a  mosquito,  239. 
Curvature,  cases  of,  in  different  schools, 

10,   II. 

how  contracted  at  desk,  n,  12. 
why  objectionable,  12. 
how  prevented,  12,  13. 

Davidson,  Professor,  233. 
Debove,  Professor,  211. 
Delearde,  Dr.,  299,  300. 
Dermis,  description  of,  221. 
Diaphragm,  location  and  structure  of, 
198,  199. 

work  of,  199. 

effect  of  lacing  on  use  of,  199,  200. 


Digestion,  study  of,  by  X-Rays,   154- 

160. 

result  when  process  of,  is  slow,  158. 
effect  of  emotions  on,  159,  160. 
how  hindered  by  waste,  176. 
how  helped   by  mastication,    181, 

183. 

how  helped  by  appetite,  185. 
Diphtheria,  cure  and  prevention  of,  243, 

244. 
Dogs,  food  experiments  with,  180,  184. 

Edwards,    Mr.,    captain    of    Princeton 

football  team,  57. 
Elephant  with  sprained  ankle,  45. 
Epidemics,  spread  of,  241-246. 

prevention  of,  245,  246. 
Epidermis,  description  of,  221. 
Exercise,  curvature  prevented  by,   12, 

!3- 

effect  of,  on  shape  of  body,  14-19. 
taken  without  apparatus,  20,  22. 
effect  of,  on  muscle  fiber,  26. 
effect  of,  on  bones,  36,  38. 
for  flat  feet,  42. 
need  of,  in  cities,  53. 
to  study  effect  of,  on  heart,  60,  62. 
in  training  of  the  heart,  62,  67. 
relation  of,  to  blood  supply,  83,  84. 
advantage  of,  to  flow  of  lymph,  94. 
production    of    carbon    dioxid    by 

means  of,  105,  106. 
relation  of,  to  demand  of  muscles 

for  oxygen,  106,  107. 
relation  of,  to  breathlessness,  107, 

108. 
lung   capacity  increased  by,    no, 

"3-"5- 

effect  of,  on  abdomen,  202. 
effect  of,  on  capillaries,  223. 
effect  of,  on  fat,  224. 
relation  of,  to  bodily  temperature, 

.  228. 
cooling  off  after,  230. 


338 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


Faisans,  Dr.,  211. 

Fat,  a  food  substance,  148. 

as  reserve  fuel,  229. 

how  reduced  by  exercise,  229. 
Fisher,  Dr.  Irving,  134. 
Five  Civilized  Tribes,  treatment  of,  by 

the  United  States,  214. 
Flies,  as  disease  carriers,  236,  237. 

relation  of,  to  cleanliness,  239,  240. 
Food,  experiments  in  use  of,  144-146. 

value  of,  147. 

tables  showing  differing  values  of, 
148-149. 

different  substances  in,  150. 

value  of,  as  bulk,  152. 

softened  in  the  stomach,  157. 

advantage  of  mastication  for,  158, 
181. 

progress  of,  through  tube,  175. 

treatment  of,  by  digestive  juices, 

175- 

preparation  of,  for  villi,  177,  178. 

condition    of,    when    absorbed   by 
villi,  178. 

mistakes  in  use  of,  179. 

advantages  in  cooking,  185,  186. 

facts  concerning  the  use  of,  187. 

change  of,  into  glycogen,  188. 

relation  of,  to  bodily  heat,  229. 
Food  tube,  size  and  length  of,  172. 

nourishment  passing  through  walls 
of,  172. 

contraction  and  relaxation  of,  173. 

when  clogged,  176. 
Foot,  ligaments  of,  42. 

bones  of,  42. 

flat,  test  of,  42. 

flat,  exercise  for,  42. 

rules  for  treatment  of,  43,  44. 

health  requirements  for,  44. 

Galen,  68. 

Ganglia,  of  sympathetic   nervous   sys- 
tem, 288,  289. 


Ganglia,  effect  of  happiness  on,  291. 

how  influenced,  292. 
Ganglion,  description  of,  271. 
Gastric  glands,  location  and  work  of, 
183. 

structure  of,  183,  184. 
Gastric  juice,  effect  of,  on  food,  174. 

flow  of,  affected  by  worry,  179. 

power  of,  183. 

increased  flow  of,  184. 

laws  controlling  flow  of,  185. 
Gelatin,  how  secured,  32. 
Germany,  agitation  against  alcohol  in, 

212,  213. 

Gianini,  Mr.,  New  York  Athletic  Club, 
58. 

Harvard  Medical  School,  154. 
Harvey,  William,  68,  69,  70,  71. 
Heart,  as  affected  by  tobacco,  54,  56. 

importance  of  training  in  develop- 
ment of,  63-65. 

how  injured,  63. 

description  of,  63. 

how  overtaxed,  63,  64. 

how  strengthened,  65,  67. 

condition  of,  when  overtaxed,  66. 

of  wild  and  caged  animals,  66. 

work  of,  70. 

number  of   beats   of,  per  minute, 
70. 

amount  of  blood  pumped  by,  70. 

relation  of,  to  veins  and  arteries, 

73-75'  81. 
structure  of,  73,  74. 
affected  by  alcohol,  100-103. 
forced  work  of,  106. 
when  overworked,  107. 
training  of,  107. 
Heart  beat,  relation  of,  to  pulse  beat, 

60,  61. 

affected  by  quick  run,  61. 
independence  of,  287. 
how  controlled,  288. 


INDEX 


339 


Heat,  experiments  with,  218,  219. 

importance  of,  to  the  body,  227. 

radiation  ofj  from  the  body,  228. 

relation  of  exercise  to,  228. 

regulation  of,  by  perspiration,  230. 

use    of   newspaper  in   preventing 

escape  of,  231. 
Hotel  de  Ville,  211. 
Ilowell,  Dr.,  260. 
Hydrophobia,  treatment  of,  245. 

effect  of  alcohol  on  powers  of  re- 
sistance to,  300. 
Hygiene,  definition  of,  232. 

Indian   Territory,  alcoholic   legislation 

for,  215,  217. 
Indians,  flat  heads  secured  by,  4. 

in  Peru,  sense  of  smell  among,  280. 
Intestine,   small,   condition    of,  during 

digestion,  175. 
passage  of  food  through  lining  of, 

177. 
effect  of  lacing  on,  197. 

Japan,  law  of,  against  alcohol,  214. 
Joints,  assistance  from,  45-51. 

where  located,  48. 

different  kinds  of,  48-50. 

ball-and-socket,  49. 

hinge,  50. 

Kansas,  law   about    common    drinking 

cup,  233. 
Kidneys,  work  of,  151,  193. 

location  and  structure  of,  192. 

how  overtaxed,  193. 

effect  of  alcohol  on,  194. 
Koch,  Dr.  Robert,  117,  1 18,  120. 
Kraepelin,  Professor,  247. 

Lacing,  harm  done  by,    195-198,   200, 

202. 

how  to  avoid,  203. 
Ligaments,  between  vertebrae,  38. 


Ligaments,  of  foot,  41. 

when  strained,  45. 

of  knee  and  hip,  49. 

description  of,  49,  50. 

work  of,  50. 
Liver,  a  chemical  laboratory,  188*. 

occupations  of,  188,  189. 

condition  of,  when  raw,  189,  190. 

effect  of  alcohol  on,  190-192. 

effect  of  lacing  on,  196. 

work  of,  helped  by  diaphragm,  200. 
London,  residence  of  William  Harvey, 

68. 

"  Lung  Block,"  120. 
Lungs,  expansion  of,  109. 

how  to  permanently  increase  size 
of,  1 10,  1 13,  114. 

description  of,  no,  m. 

work  of,  in,  112. 

advantage  of  size  and  health   of, 
113,  114. 

effect  of  lacing  on,  200. 
Lymph,  where  found,  90,  93. 

nature  and  value  of,  91. 

relation  of,  to  carbon  dioxid,  91. 

importance  of,  91. 

constituents  of,  92. 

office  of,  92. 

appearance  of,  93. 

exchanges  of,  with  plasma,  93. 

flow  of,  aided  by  exercise,  94. 

what  it  receives  from  plasma,  94. 

union  of ,  with  circulatory  system,  95. 

when  fresh,  95. 
Lymphatic  tubes,  origin  of,  92,  94. 

structure  of,  94. 

size  of,  95. 

McP>ride,  Mr.,  57. 
Measles,  241. 

Meat,  substitutes  for,  152,  153. 
Mernetsch,  staff  surgeon,  251. 
Metchnikoff,   Professor,   293,  294,  295, 
297. 


340 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


Microbes,  relation  of,  to  drinking-water, 

162,  164. 

relation  of,  to  milk,  169-171. 
relation  of,  to  bodily  waste,  176. 
on  schoolroom  drinking  cup,  233. 
h^w  to  avoid  them,  234. 
relation  of,  to  eye  epidemics,  235. 
passed  about  on  pencil  point,  236. 
how  conveyed  by  flies,  236,  237. 
danger  from,  through  mosquitoes, 

237-239- 

attacked  by  phagocytes,  300-302. 
Milk,  dangers  from,  169,  171. 

best  conditions  for  purity  of,  170. 

why  swallowed  in  sips,  182,  183. 
Moorhead,  Dr.,  302. 
Mosquitoes    as    disease    carriers,  237- 

239- 

how  exterminated,  240. 
Muscles,  influence  of  hard  work  on,  14, 

15- 

law  of  activity  of,  16. 
of  arm  elongated,  16. 
of  oarsman's  back,  16. 
in  hand  of  piano  player,  17. 
how  to  change  undesired  shape  of, 

18. 

of  back,  18. 

of  chest,  how  strengthened,  18,  19. 
exhibitions  of,  by  student,  20,  22. 
development  of,  without  apparatus, 

21,  22. 

the  biceps,  21,  29. 
examination    of,   with   magnifying 

glass,  24. 

different  shapes  of,  24. 
structure  of,  24,  25. 
hard  when  contracted,  26. 
voluntary,  28. 
involuntary,  28. 
weight  of,  in  human  body,  29. 
relation   of,  to  tendon  and  bone, 

46,  47. 
biceps,  work  of,  47. 


Muscles,  as  affected  by  exercises,  105, 

1 06. 
work  of,  to  reduce  fat,  229. 

Nansen,  Mr.,  views  of,  about  alcohol,  58. 
Nerve  cells,  description  of,  270-272. 

of  cerebellum,  276. 

training  of,  276-279,  280-283. 

four  laws  of,  279. 

of  the  senses,  280. 
Nerve  fibers,  end  of,  in  muscle,  266. 

description  of,  266-268. 

effect  of  cutting  on,  269,  270 

relation  of,  to  nerve  cell,  271-273. 
Nerves,  relation  of,  to  sensation,  254. 

previous  notions  about,  255. 

as  seen  by  use  of  microscope,  255. 

arrangement  of,  in  groups,  255,  256. 

as  exercised  in    case    of   burning 
baby,  256,  257. 

location  of,  258,  259. 
Nervous  system,  sympathetic,  287-292. 
New  Mexico,  215. 
Nippon,  island  of,  205. 
Nose,  explanation  of  color  of,  97. 

Oarsmen,  straight  and  bent  backs  of, 
how  explained,  16. 

Oklahoma,  union  of,  with  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, 215,  216. 

Okushiri,  island  of,  205. 

Okushiri  islanders,  history  of  prohi- 
bition experiment  among,  205, 
209. 

Oporto,  wine  exported  from,  139. 

Oxygen,  in  the  blood,  91. 

need  of,  during  exercise,  106. 
in  the  lungs,  in,  112. 

Paris,  anti-alcohol  posters  in,  211. 
Patent  medicine,   harmful  ingredients 
of,  142. 

effect  of,  on  patient,  142. 

proportion  of  alcohol  in,  143. 


INDEX 


341 


Patent  medicine,  action  of  the  United 
States  government  in  regard  to, 

143- 

Pawlow,  Professor,  180,  184. 
Peristaltic  action,  object  of,  178. 
Perspiration,  manufacture  of,  220. 

composition  of,  221. 

insensible,  222. 

sensible,  223. 

relation  of,  to  taking  cold,  223. 
Phagocyte,  as  studied  in  frog,  293. 

description  of  work  of,  294-297. 

effect  of  alcohol  on,  298-304. 

where  manufactured,  302. 
Philadelphia,  yellow  fever  epidemic  in, 

238. 

Pink  eye,  how  avoided,  235. 
Pittsburg,  typhoid  fever  in,  162,  163. 
Plants,  source  of  nourishment  of,  150. 
Plasma,  description  of,  87. 

what  it  receives  from  lymph,  92. 
Plexus,  description  of,  289. 
Ponape,  the  island  of,  241. 
Poole,  Ernest,  121. 
Posture,  importance  of,  5. 

correct  standing,  7,  8. 

at  school  desk,  9. 
Proteid,  use  of,  in  the  body,  150,  151. 

disposal  of  surplus  of,  193. 
Pulse  beat,  testing  of,  59. 

to  increase  rapidity  of,  60-62. 

why  followed  by  the  doctor,  62. 

what  shown  by,  69,  70. 
Pylorus,  location  and  work  of,  157. 

how  affected  by  soft  and  hard  food, 
157,  158- 

Redding,  Cyrus,  139. 

Ribs,  shape  of,    changed  by  lacing,  196 

normal  shape  of,  197. 
Riis,  Jacob,  241. 
Rome,  residence  of  Galen,  68. 
Royal  Society  of  London,  Philosophical 
Transactions  of,  220. 


St.   Louis  Wholesale   Liquor   Associa- 
tion, 137. 
Sake,  use  of,  205. 
Saliva,  how  increase  flow  of,  180. 

value  of,  181,  182. 
Salivary  glands,  180.  • 

Schmidt,  Dr.  F.  A.,  10. 
School  desk,  danger  from,  9. 
Shoes,  affecting  shape  of  foot,  43. 

size  of,  required,  43,  44. 
Skeleton,  dependence  of,  on  muscle 

and  ligament,  30. 
Skin,  facts  about,  218-225. 

uninjured  by  heat,  218,  219. 

structure  of,  221. 

work  of,  how  interfered  with,  221. 

condition  of,  in  health,  222. 

power  of,  to  heal  itself,  222. 
Smallpox,  the  prevention  of,  242,  243. 
Soldiers,    connection    of,    with    eating 
experiments,  144. 

treatment  of,  145. 

condition  of,  at  close  of  experi- 
ments, 145. 

Sphygmograph,  value  of,  98,  99. 
Spinal  column,  importance  of,  35,  36. 
Stagg,  A.  A.,  57. 
Starch,  in  beans  and  in  potatoes,  186. 

effect  of  cooking  on,  186. 

effect  of  saliva  on,  186. 
Stegomyia,  a  mosquito,  238. 
Stockholm,  temperance  gathering  in, 

213. 
Stomach,  study  of,  through  the  X-ray, 

154. 

appearance  of,  155,  156. 
action  of,  during  digestion,  156. 
contents  of,  after  fifteen  minutes, 

IS?- 

effect  of  lacing  on,  197. 

effect  of  rhythmic  action  of  dia- 
phragm on,  200. 

and  sympathetic  nervous  system, 
290. 


342 


THE  BODY  AND  ITS  DEFENSES 


Sweat  glands,  work  of,  220. 
number  of,  220. 
value  of,  230. 
Sweden,  attitude  of  royal  family  towards 

alcohol,  213. 
• 
Temperature  of  body,  slight  variation 

of,  226,  227. 

Tendons,  when  strained,  45,  47. 
relation  of,  to  muscle,  46. 
work  of,  50. 

Texas,  reference  to,  216. 
Tobacco,  use  of,  forbidden  to  athletes, 

54,  57>  58- 

effect  of,  on  heart,  56. 
Toxin,  how  produced,  300. 
Trachoma,  danger  from,  235. 
Treves,  Sir  Frederick,  103. 
Tubercle    bacilli,    danger    from,    117, 
118. 

facts  about,  118,  119. 

attacked  by  phagocytes,  296. 
Tuberculosis,  frequent  starting  point  of, 
114. 

of  the  lungs,  117. 

death  rate  from,  117,  118. 

cases  of,  121-123. 

dangers  from,  124,  125,  128. 

to  protect  from,  128,  130. 

the  cure  of,  131,  134. 

five  D's  of,  132. 

microbes   of,   distributed  by  flies, 

238. 
Typhoid  fever,  in  Pittsburg,  162,  163. 


Typhoid    fever,    microbes    of,    where 

found,  163,  1 66,  167,  169. 
flies,  as  carriers  of,  237. 

United  States,  prohibition  in,  214. 

action  of,  in  regard  to  alcohol  and 
the  Indians,  214-217. 

Veins,  nature  of  blood  flow  from,  when 

ruptured,  69. 
valves  of,  71. 
to  hinder  progress  of  blood  through, 

72>  73- 

union  of,  with  arteries,  78. 
Ventricle,  74. 

Vertebrae,   wedge-shaped,  how    con- 
tracted, 12,  36,  37. 

number  and  location  of,  35. 

shape  of,  36. 

effect  of  posture  on,  36. 

movements  of,  38. 
Villi,  location  of,  175. 

work  of,  176. 

numbers  of,  177. 

description  of,  177. 

absorption  of  food  by,  178. 

food  sent  by,  to  liver,  188. 

Warren,  Dr.,  136. 

Waste,  regular  elimination  of,  177. 

Water,  how  contaminated,  163-168. 

when  pure,  168. 

how  secured,  by  cities,  168. 

X-ray,  action  of  food  tube  shown  by,  1 74. 


I  XJVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY 


ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
^  BELOW 


A 


Tss 


